Raised in Crossmolina, County Mayo, Rochford was educated at Crossmolina Boys' National School and Gortnor Abbey. He was introduced to football by primary school teacher John Cosgrove and Crossmolina coach Tom McNulty. He won Connacht School titles for Gortnor Abbey, playing under Gerry Leonard. He simultaneously came to prominence at juvenile and underage levels with the Crossmolina team, winning a county under-21 championship medal in 1997. By this stage Rochford had joined the Crossmolina senior team and won an All-Ireland medal in 2001. He also won three Connacht medals and six County Senior Championship medals.
Rochford made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of sixteen when he first linked up with the Mayo minor team. A Connacht medal winner as captain of the team in 1996, he subsequently joined the Mayo under-21 team. Rochford made his senior debut during the 1999-00 league and spent one season with the team.
While still a player, Rochford began his coaching and managerial career when he served as a Mayo minor selector for two seasons. After finishing the year as All-Ireland runners-up in 2005, he later coached the Mayo under-21 team to an All-Ireland B title in 2007. After a period working with the Mayo-Galway IT Team in the Sigerson Cup, he managed Corofin to the All-Ireland title in 2015. Rochford was appointed manager of the Mayo senior team in November 2015.
In the 2017 All-Ireland semi-final, Mayo played Kerry. Rochford's men drew the game.[9] In the replay Mayo overwhelmed Kerry by 2-16 to 0-17, earning a second All-Ireland SFC final appearance for Mayo under Rochford within two years of his taking over as Mayo Bainisteoir.[10] In that game, Rochford's Mayo team again lost out by a single point against Dublin.[11]
In June 2018, Rochford's Mayo lost to Kildare by a scoreline of 0-21 - 0-19 in the All-Ireland SFC Third Round, which was the first time in eight years that Mayo lost a game in the back-door.[12] On 27 August 2018, Rochford resigned as Mayo manager.[13][14]
Since
Bernard Flynn named Rochford as part of his backroom team as Meath manager as he prepared to succeed Andy McEntee in 2022, then Colm O'Rourke was appointed manager instead. Flynn deleted a tweet about Rochford.[15] Shortly after this, Rochford was named as part of Kevin McStay's bid for the senior Mayo managerial vacancy.[16] McStay's bid was successful, so Rochford returned to Mayo in August 2022.[17] McStay named him as his assistant manager and coach.[18]
^"Kevin McStay: Everybody should strap in and come for the spin". RTÉ. 14 September 2022. Rochford is assistant manager along with coaching contributions, Buckley will be head coach and selector, while Mulligan and McHale are also coaches and selectors with additional responsibilities for club liaison and Mayo Under-20s liaison respectively.