Irish athlete Dónal Óg Cusack announces engagement to fiancé Nathan Adams in romantic Christmas post
“25-12-25 Dónal Óg Cusack Happy Christmas to all," wrote the caption
By Aaron Sugg
Dónal Óg Cusack announced his engagement to fiancé Nathan Adams in a romantic Christmas Instagram Reel, sparking excitement among fans.
The Irish athlete’s engagement post received hundreds of congratulations on social media, including from Olympian Jack Woolley, and collected over 12,000 likes.
The video was captioned with the date of their engagement: “25-12-25 Dónal Óg Cusack Happy Christmas to all,” followed by a wedding ring emoji.
Dónal Óg Cusack came out as gay in 2009
Cusack, a three-time All-Ireland hurling champion with Cork, came out as gay in 2009, becoming the first elite Irish athlete to do so publicly.
His coming out announcement was widely celebrated and was later recognised in Outsports’s 100 most important moments in LGBTQ sports history.
The 48-year-old continued to play at the elite level until 2013, just before his 36th birthday, before moving into broadcasting as a pundit and coach for Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTE), Ireland’s public broadcaster.
“I was a hurler who happened to be gay” – Dónal Óg Cusack on coming out as a gay athlete
Reflecting on his career, he told RTE: “I wasn’t the gay hurler – I was a hurler who happened to be gay,” recalling his experiences after coming out.
“Did I get a bit of stick? I did,” Cusack said, remembering receiving death threats for being gay. “There were letters coming through the door, death threats, cuttings from newspapers… about all the gay men who were murdered, saying you’re next.”
His fiancé, Adams, is a model-turned-entrepreneur and, like his athlete husband-to-be, has also been active in sports, competing in HYROX events across Ireland, the UK, and Germany. He came out publicly on social media ahead of Ireland’s 2015 referendum on equal marriage.
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