Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history.

Hurling, 2009: Hurling is an unknown sport in the U.S., but it is huge in Ireland, so the coming out of star player Donal Óg Cusack was a milestone for the country. Cusack is the first elite Irish athlete to come out. He’s also that rare athlete who came out while still playing.

In his 2009 autobiography, Cusack, a goalkeeper, talks about how he knew he was different when he was 13 and tried dating to women to confirm what he instinctively knew:

“I tried to go out with women to make sure, to see what kind of feeling it gave me.

“I went out with nice women and good women, but sure, I still knew. I wanted something else. I get more out of men. I just do. Always have. I know I am different but just in this way. Whatever you may feel about me or who I am, I’ve always been at peace with it.”

What is cool about Cusack’s story is the support he received from his teammates.

“I’m tough, but there was so much emotion in so many of those conversations, it was wringing me out”, he admitted.  “Some of the conversations were earnest. Some emotional. Some make me laugh when I look back.”

For more information:

• Cusack’s Wikipedia page
• Cusack interview: “There was no torment”

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I tried to go out with women to make sure, to see what kind of feeling it gave me…. I went out with nice women and good women, but sure, I still knew. I wanted something else. I get more out of men. I just do. Always have. I know I am different but just in this way. Whatever you may feel about me or who I am, I’ve always been at peace with it.

An observation that’s always stuck with me is Blanche Devereaux’s priceless line about the difference between having sex with a man or a woman: “A man has so much more to offer.”

He also chronicles his father’s reaction to his coming out, in particular. It wasn’t good: Warnings of a rough life, chastisement and a hope that his son would get “fixed.” Yikes.

One of the interesting tidbits to come from his declaration is this reaction from the Belfast Telegraph:

Yet in what may shock the sporting establishment, he admits to sleeping with both women and men before accepting his sexuality as a gay man….

Unless I’m reading this wrong, the Telegraph isn’t shocked that he’s gay, but that he slept with both men and women! Or maybe the shock comes from the fact that he actually slept with women and preferred sex with men. Having experienced both, I’m not shocked at all.

Check out the Wikipedia entry on hurling.

Hat tip to Towleroad.

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