‘PEOPLE always found it difficult to say no to Donal,’ Ciarán O’Sullivan explains. ‘He was just one of those people who went out of his way for everyone else, so you would always do what you could for him in return.

‘He always had a great way about him,’ O’Sullivan continues, still coming to terms with the passing of Castletownbere and Beara GAA legend Donal ‘Butcher’ O’Sullivan on December 23rd after a short illness.

In all the worlds he touched – sport, community and the fishing industry – Donal made a difference.

He was a legend in Beara, and it’s easy to understand why. From a GAA perspective, he was manager of the Beara team that won the 1997 Cork senior football championship. He also led the Beara minors (2003) and the division’s U21s (2006) to county titles, cementing his legacy, alongside years of dedication to his home club Castletownbere.

Former Cork footballer Ciarán O’Sullivan, from Urhan, knew Donal O’Sullivan better than most. He was part of Donal’s Beara team that conquered the county in 1997, while off the pitch Ciarán’s sister is married to Donal’s brother, Martin.

‘I was very friendly with the man,’ he says, his mind drifting back to their Beara days together, with Donal the driving force off the pitch.

‘Go back to 1997 – that was unbelievable. But before that, we would have struggled to field teams in the Kelleher Shield. Donal had an unbelievable way of always finding players to get a team out.

‘I remember Donal on the way to matches from Castletownbere. We might have been in Glengarriff when we found out we were short players. He’d make a phone call, turn around, pick up a few lads and be back for the match so the game could go ahead.

‘He had a great way about him, and people found it difficult to say no to him.

‘He was a wonderful man, he’ll be sorely missed.’

Donal, having worked as a Cork minor selector in 2010, went on to manage the minors in 2014 and 2015, but did his best work in his own backyard with Castletownbere and Beara.

In a tribute, Castletownbere GAA said: ‘When he retired from playing, Donal dedicated himself to helping the club. It was during his tenure as chairman that a major redevelopment of the Droum pitch was undertaken in 1990. In that same busy season, he also managed the intermediate football team to the county final.

‘It was in his dedicated and passionate management of teams that Donal excelled. He possessed a clear vision of how his teams should play, had great empathy with the players and, most of all, was decisive on the sideline.’

His ability to get the best out of players was there for all to see when Beara ruled the county in 1997, beating Castlehaven in the final replay – the division’s first Cork SFC title in 30 years. Ciarán O’Sullivan was a driving force on that team but insists Donal, as manager, was the difference-maker.

‘Donal always said we had the football, and he wanted us to go out and play. Even though it didn’t happen the first day against Castlehaven, he never doubted Beara in the replay. None of us did, to be honest, but that confidence had to come from the top,’ O’Sullivan says.

‘Donal’s passion was unreal – driving people on. He was a huge voice in the dressing room. When he spoke, people listened.’

And when people needed help, Donal stood up too.

‘He worked in Castletownbere Fishermen’s Co-op, and the amount of footballers and GAA people that went through there!’ O’Sullivan quips.

‘If he thought for one second that somebody might be going away because there was no work – or that they needed work – you didn’t have to ask him. He would approach that person and say there’s work if you want it. He kept as much as he could local. He kept players around.

‘Nobody said no to him because he went out of his way for people.’

Donal’s home club highlighted his ‘notable and worthy legacy of success’, etched forever into Beara GAA history – a reminder that he was one of the rare ones, a man who made a difference in all walks of life.

He is survived by his wife Aishling, and their children Cormac and Niamh.