Donal Hunt The One Time Boy Wonder of Cork Football No man is an island, least of all the social type of animal that makes gaelic games an integral part of his everyday being. The loneliness experienced by the long distance runner isn't often tasted in a team sport like gaelic football, except that is, when the atmosphere is so unappealing in a losers dressing room that you could cut it with a knife. Bere Island native Donal Hunt used to be a regular on great Cork football teams of the past. Not for him then, or now, the lonesome trail. Up until he was eleven years of age, Bere Island was home for the would-be Cork star of the seventies, plus some three hundred other innately G.A.A. 'friendly inhabitant. The island boasted of a great G.A.A. traditions too and bred several top players, one of whose number was none other than a brother of Donal's mother, one Tom Coughlan. Winner of three Cork Senior Championship medals back in the thirties and forties uncle Tom was a great inspiration to all around him, most of all to his keen and eager young nephew. Instinctively and spurred on by necessity, young Hunt took to the boat at an early stage to make the mainland his home and his source of underage football. He had the best of beginnings all told. There were sixty souls along with him at the island's National school and the young fellas there did little else but play football, acting out the best moments of the football stars of the day like the other islanders such as Mick O'Connell of Valentia. "We had a lot of time on our hands quite naturally and we spent most of it playing football and our game benefited accordingly", reflected the Company Director. Donal Hunt was in good company in Bere Island and in good hands too. Donal O'Sullivan, his teacher at Bere Island was a key figure in shaping the young Hunt's academic and football career. The combination would remain an item on the sporting front for several years after both quit the off-shore island, each learning from the other, a mutually beneficial football arrangement. Donal O'Sullivan was, in all respects, Donal Hunt's mentor. By 1960, the young Bere Island starlet was well settled in at his Bantry Vocational School post. The football was of a poor standard there he recalls but passionate. It was, unfortunately, initially at least, a wholly unsuccessfully game for Hunt and his peers as teams like Macroom and Beara, held the upper hand at underage level at that period. Hunt was a good young 'un though and a three year stretch on the county Minors would signal his growing maturity as a forty yards play maker 'cum midfielder. His opening salvo as a keen but no less talented county Minor arrived at the tender age of sixteen. What was written in tablet form down Muster way since time began for the G.A.A. was to naturally pair Hunt's Cork with the Kingdom. In 1965 Cork Under 18's lost out in the Munster final to Kerry but a year later the result was reversed. For burgeoning talents like the 'erstwhile islander Simon Murphy, Ray Cummins, Denis Long and Seamus Loone, a precious All-Ireland medal loomed on the horizon. It was not to be though as Connacht champions Mayo spoiled the party in the penultimate Championship game. For the Beara Intermediate player much better tidings were just round the corner thankfully. Working towards a common goal from the influential centre half forward berth on the county Minor team of '67, Donal Hunt helped steer the Cork class of budding Senior football graduates to All-Ireland glory. To add to the collective Cork joy, the team were pronounced winners all and would remain together as a unit right through to highly rewarding Under 21 days. On a singular personal note, the fact that the aforementioned Donal O'Sullivan was a selector on the victorious 1967 Minor squad added to the gloss of triumph for Donal Doubtless players like Jimmy Barrett, Denis Long and Dave Mc Cathy were glad of O'Sullivan's assistance too. Courtesy of his sparkling displays on the Minor team and as a likely result of his performances for Carbery in the West Cork Divisional Championships of '66, Donal graduated to the Cork Senior ranks in the autumn of 1967. A grounds Tournament game against Mayo in the National Football League marked his Senior county for the then Murname and O'Shea Bantry-based Carpenter. Now a Director with the self same company whose contracts currently see them operating in places like Dingle, Tralee and Limerick, Donal first won a Cork Senior Championship medal in 1968. Once again he played out of the centre half forward berth and in the company of Johnny Crowley, Johnny Carroll, the Kehilly's and a host of other notables-elect from the Skibbereen, Dunmanway and Bantry areas sauntered to county glory with Carbery. A player blessed with a tremendous spring in his heels, a fine pair of hands and a 5 feet eleven inch frame that housed a great battery of energy, Hunt's best days still lay ahead of him. A five years stint with Cork at Under 21 was also the West Cork player's lot. Again with the aid and advice of messr. O'Sullivan, the Rebels including O'Sullivan's protégé of course, romped to an All-Ireland title win in All-Ireland title win in 1970, a win that prompted a special Munster final Senior success over Kerry the following year. Just for good measure, Donal Hunt's Curriculum Vitae was finely embellished as he rifled over four important points all from play, in the '71 Provincial decider. However, almost as memorable for the 22 year old Beara speedster was the fact that Donal rubbed shoulders with the great Mick O'Connell. "The '71 final was at a time when Mick was coming to the end of his career. People in Cork and elsewhere of course, had a lot of respect for him and I was very glad that we won that match against a Kerry team with Mick on board. It was nice to play with him when we won the Railway Cup title in '72 and I think everyone was pleased for Mick that he eventually won a Railway Cup medal", remembered the man who earlier in '71 captained Carbery to county glory to the eternal credit also of countymen such as Kevin Kehilly and Delan Barron. The 1973 Championship season had all makings of being a great year for the latter day Bantry Blues star. At 24 years of age, Donal Hunt was at his proverbial prime and rearing to establish himself on the biggest stage of all. Cork had gone out and whipped Clare in predictable fashion in the Munster Championship opener. Hunt was Cork's midfield maestro in that game and looked forward to an extended run at the heart of the Rebel machine. Fate had other ideas though. A punctured lung would destroy his hopes of a best ever year in Cork's colours. "It was very frustrating from then on for me, especially when you realised that you could and should have been playing on the team instead of watching the other lads. When the teams went on to win the All-Ireland in '73 I was a substitute but it was still a memorable time of me", explained the former regular team captain. In truth, the years that followed provided a mixed bag for the forceful Corkonian. A refreshing challenge arose when regular corner back Frank Coogan was ruled out in the summer of '74 through injury. In stepped Donal to play a blinder against Dublin in the All-Ireland semi final of that year only to see the fruits of his labour crash off the rocks and wither under the influence wielded by Keaveney, Mullins and friends. The semi final defeat was disappointing, bitterly so for Donal. "We had beaten the same team, bar Jimmy Keaveney and Tony Hanohoe, in the League that February fairly easily but I'm afraid we didn't prepare ourselves well enough psychologically for the Dubs. The talent was there within the team to win All-Irelands on the trot but it seemed that we had too much of a lacks-a-daisical approach about our led-up to the match. It's ironic too because if we had won the '74 final, the Dubs probably wouldn't have been heard of", explained the husband of Marion and father of Mark and Andrea. Sadly, injuries were to play havoc with Donal Hunt's career thereafter. He again missed out on another provincial final, this time in the 1975 extravagance when a troublesome hamstring injury put paid to his chances of playing. There was a measure of compensation weeks later in the form of an Intermediate Championship final win over Ballyvourney but injury trouble was never far from the surface and with a niggling groin strain further complicating matters Donal wound up his intercounty career in 1978 in a National League semi final tussle with Roscommon. On the club front, the Bantry Battler would battle on for another seven seasons. Fittingly, a West Cork Junior Championship medal in 1985 coincided with his decision to call a halt to his playing days With more than a casual eye to proceedings this Sunday, Donal doesn't stand on ceremony in offering his forecast on the Cork versus Tipperary tie. "The Cork team ought to get their backsides kicked if they lose to Tipperary". Forceful, forthright and fair, that's Donal Hunt. Written by Hogan Stand Magazine 16/ 07/ 93 Tweet

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