Dónal Óg has courage to return in red
No big deal. Football’s pain threshold is at an all-time low and the afflicted knows that allowances will be made.
Sure enough, Chelsea put the ball out. Theo could begin his summer holidays guilt-free.
Last Sunday in Semple Stadium, after he had leapt to repel a Thomas Stapleton delivery, but spilled it into danger, Dónal Óg Cusack’s bumpy landing finished his season. But he was able to ignore the agony of a ruptured Achilles long enough to dive headlong in front of the arriving Brian O’Meara and divert the sliotar to safety.
No big deal either. What did you expect? Cusack will be missed.
The generous acknowledgement that rippled around Thurles suggests the Tipp crowd might even have forgiven those one or two occasions when he mounted and saddled some of their best men as they bore down on goal.
And the kind of courage he was always shown, on the field and in his personal life, will stand to him now, on a difficult road back to the hooped jersey. If he wants it, we wouldn’t bet against him.
