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Monday, October 19, 2009
DONAL ÓG CUSACK’S Cork hurling colleagues backed him "100%" last night following the sensational revelations about his private life, saying the long-serving goalkeeper would be fully supported by "genuine GAA people".
Excerpts from Cusack’s forthcoming autobiography, Come What May, were serialised in a Sunday newspaper, detailing the Cloyne club man’s homosexuality, and his Cork team-mates were unanimous in their backing for him yesterday.
"Of course he has my support," said long-serving forward Timmy McCarthy, a stance echoed by midfielder Tom Kenny.
"He’s a top man," said Ben O’Connor, Cork All-Ireland winning captain in 2004. "He is one of the best genuine GAA men around and will be supported by Cork players and genuine GAA people 100%."
Those sentiments were endorsed by O’Connor’s clubmate and inter-county colleague Cathal Naughton: "We’re all fully behind him, he’s a great man and has so much for all of us. This won’t change anything."
Cusack’s autobiography pulls no punches in its frank depiction of his sexuality, and he is expected to discuss the book in detail later this week on The Late Late Show.
Other sections of the book will also come in for close attention. He outlines, for instance, how he and GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell, weighed up the pros and cons of professionalism for inter-county hurlers and footballers, an admission that is sure to reopen the debate on pay for play within the Association.
"Dessie and myself had been doing a lot of talking about the whole thing, where we thought the GPA should go and where we hoped the GAA would go, and we did the figures, and we would have come to the conclusion that professionalism is not the way forward," said Cusack.
"What has the average inter-county player got now anyway – five or six years? If you pay him you’re not going to be able to pay him nearly enough that he’s going to be set up for the rest of his life . . . So you would actually be doing a disservice to him, even if the GAA could sustain such a system."
GAA and GPA chiefs remained tightlipped on Cusack’s remarks regarding professionalism when contacted last night.
GAA President Christy Cooney declined to comment as he had not read the extracts from Cusack’s book while GPA officials did not return calls.
The timing of the comments comes at a difficult time for the GPA given that they are in sensitive negotiations with the GAA over a number of matters including official recognition and the player grants scheme which has been slashed by Sports Minister Martin Cullen.
Cusack also goes into detail about the strikes in Cork GAA circles in recent years, giving a stark account of the Cork hurler’ first meeting with Gerald McCarthy, which he likened to a television comedy series: "It was like one of those intensely embarrassing scenes from The Office."
The goalkeeper also gives an account of a crucial meeting between himself, team captain John Gardiner, then-selector Donal Collins and Gerald McCarthy ahead of the strike: "Gerald hadn’t spoken at all til the end of the meeting and I had looked at him, fidgeting and taking it all in, and realised this was one tough man who was going to face us down and do everything he could to salvage his pride. I knew it that night and spoke to John about the tragedy that was likely to happen.
"The board would drop Gerald – a legendary Cork hurler – and 30 of its top hurlers into a pit and let us fight it out, knowing our nature would ensure that only one would come back out, and they were betting that it would probably be Gerald."
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