Dónal Óg: The way I am. I am fine with it

THE father of Cork hurling hero Dónal Óg Cusack colourfully said to his son, on hearing he was gay, that it would be more difficult to defend than his short puck-outs.

In his new autobiography, Dónal Óg reveals he is gay and recounts the drama of having to fly home suddenly from South Africa after his family heard reports of his sexual orientation.

The details emerged in a front page story in yesterday’s Irish Mail, which is serialising his autobiography, entitled Come What May.

The goalkeeper said that, after flying home and telling his parents and siblings, his dad said: “Like f*** it, Dónal Óg, the abuse you’re going to get about this. I thought it was hard defending your short puck-outs but, f*** it, this one . . .”

Dónal Óg said: “I know what he was thinking: ‘Right, I’ll kill fellas if I have to. I don’t know how I’m going to get my head around this one, but I’ll defend my son anyway’.”

The two-time All Star said he was on a team holiday in early 2006, after winning Cork’s second All Ireland in a row, when he got a phone call from his sister, Treasa, telling him the family was hearing he was gay.

He said his dad, Donal Sr, rang him and said: “Dónal Óg, is this f***ing true? What’s going on?”

Dónal Óg said he flew home and was collected by his dad.

“Men being men and families being families we drove to Cloyne as if nothing was going on. We talked about the holidays and we talked hurling. Down home, typically, my mother had dinner on the table,” he said.

He said they sat talking about anything to fill the silence. Eventually he told them the situation.

“I think my mother always half knew but, for Dad, it was a big shock.”

He said there was confusion in his dad’s face.

“He had lived and worked in London for 10 years but he thought, well, if he had a son like this, he would dress differently and behave differently.

“They all have square jaws. But you don’t, you’re into hurling.’

“Right, you know the way we need to deal with this? You need to get fixed.”

Dónal Óg said his brother, Conor, got up from the table and said to his dad: “There you go now, that will broaden your mind.”

Now 32, Dónal Óg was 28 when this happened. He said he knew he was a “bit different” since he was 13 or 14.

“That’s the way I am. I live with it and I am fine with it. I’ve had to say this to people I’m close to again and again. This is who I am.”

Michael Barron of gay, lesbian and bisexual support group BeLonG , praised Dónal Óg: “It’s very brave of Dónal Óg to come out. It’s a real landmark in Irish culture for someone of his standing to come out.

He’s the first major sports star and that will have a positive impact.

“For Irish young people, in this case young men particularly, there is a lot of homophobic bullying of young guys – that gays behave in a certain way, they can’t be into sport. There are gay people in all walks of life.”

lwww.belongto.org; www.corkgayproject.com; www.glen.ie