He's never been one to shy away from a challenge but perhaps working with Davy Fitzgerald has given Dónal Óg Cusack some added desire for a good old scrap. A proper scrap on the pitch may be best but if that's not forthcoming then the best possible thing to do is find the story of the day, look for the prevailing wisdom and then start making noise on Twitter with the opposite position.
It just so happened that yesterday gave the perfect opportunity for such an undertaking when the social media punching bag that is John Terry announced that he would be leaving Chelsea at the end of the season.
While the vast majority of the Twitterati was engaged in bland meme regurgitation and incredibly staid jokes about full kits and so and so's wife, the former Cork goalkeeper took the Daily Mail, full English jingoism, route of reflecting on John Terry's career.
England's brave John Terry. Easy target & last of a breed. What you saw was what you got. Old school English footballer, flaws and all.
— Dónal Óg Cusack (@DonalOgC) January 31, 2016
Blimey son, if Only Fools and Horses was still going we'd imagine that's the kind of thing that Del Boy might conjure up.
We are of course being unfair to Dónal Óg by suggesting that his tribute to Terry was merely born out of a desire to piss people off. Whatever about the 'England's brave' part, Terry will be sorely missed by Chelsea and by English football. His off field persona may be ripe for criticism but when he's on form, there's still few defenders in the Premier League who can touch him in terms of influence.
He's been nothing short of remarkable over the past ten years or so. And his performances during last season's run to the title were a testament to a career that should and, in time, will, go down as one of the most impressive in the history of the Premier League. But this is the era of social media after all so, there's no chance Dónal Óg was getting away with that.
@DonalOgC a trojan defender but a despicable person from a disgusting club and family.Terry Wogan died today,don't have 2much pity for JT👎🏻
— Shane Quinlan (@ShaQu80) January 31, 2016
@DonalOgC A vile person who played for a disgusting club who's fans are racist scumbags,bad call there Donal.
— LIAM (@CelticLiam88) January 31, 2016
@DonalOgC will ya stop, got himself banned for his teams biggest game through an act of stupidity and rocked up in full kit to lift the cup?
— Barry Mullane (@BarryMullane1) January 31, 2016
@DonalOgC racially abused his international colleague's bro and slept with his club mates wife.
— Barry Mullane (@BarryMullane1) January 31, 2016
@DonalOgC E'z a diamond geezer. The man who stood in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square was nowhere near as brave as John Terry
— The Last Dictator (@CraigFitzsimon1) January 31, 2016
Nicely played Dónal Óg, nicely played.
