Sporting Heroes Month: Donal Og Cusack
By Ben Kelly
In association with MaxiNutrition.
To mark our Sporting Heroes Month, each day in May we’re shining the spotlight on one of our favourite sportsmen. Today, it’s the turn of Irish hurling player Donal Og Cusack. The 38 year old became the first openly gay elite Irish sportsman when he came out in 2009, breaking apart traditional notions around Ireland’s toughest, most masculine sport.
Top Sporting Achievement: Donal made 54 championship appearances for Cork, more than any other goalkeeper in Ireland’s history.
Better Half: Donal has never had a public partner, so instead we’ll highlight his brother Conor, who in 2014 revealed that he too was attracted to men, but also that he suffered from depression. He has since been a public advocate for both causes, and the pair are seen as role models in an Irish sporting culture unused to addressing sexuality and mental health issues.
Best Attribute: His activism goes beyond just paying lip service to gay equality in Ireland. Donal appears on TV, attends rallies, and has even travelled abroad to the US, where he met with Jason Collins, and Russia where he confronted homophobic politicians. In terms of physical attributes? Who could resist those big brown eyes…
Sporting Quote: In 2014, Donal wrote in the Irish Examiner,“Bad times don’t put sport into perspective. It’s the other way around. Sport helps us put bad times into perspective. Sport makes us walk on.”
Special Weapon: Donal is actually an electrician by trade, good to know if you like a man who knows how to cross his wires properly.
Style: Donal is equally at home in his polo shirt sporting gear as he is in formal suits which he wears for TV appearances or evening events.
RTÉ GAA Panellist – Dónal Óg Cusack
Training Tip: This video, showing Donal in ‘Achilles rebab’ in 2012 really speaks for itself…
In The Game: Donal served as a hurling goalkeeper. Darragh McManus of the Irish Independent calls Donal a great hurler, who proved himself a “doughty and tenacious” competitor through his time in the sport.
Wins: Donal won three All-Ireland medals, five Munster medals and two All-Star awards.
Attitude: In 2009 Donal told the Guardian,”I don’t understand myself why it seems to be more difficult for sports people to come out than for people in other walks of life, but hurling and football exist in every corner of Ireland and there must be a hell of a lot of teenagers and men and women who struggle with this more than I have. If a hurler from a small village in Cork can do it, maybe it isn’t so hard after all.”