When Pál Domonkos was in high school he competed in athletics. He then switched to rowing and was a competitor of the Budapest EE from 1926, the Szeged EE in 1930, and the Pannónia EE from 1931. He achieved his greatest success as the lead rower of the Pannonia coxed eights: he won the Hungarian championship three times (1931, 1935 and 1936), finished third at the European Championships in 1931 and first in 1935, and came in fifth place at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In 1934 he became the Hungarian champion with the coxed fours. After the Olympics, he retired from competitive rowing, but remained in the sport. He worked as a judge and coach first at Újpest, Pannónia, and Budapesti EE, and then at Csepel.