Salute to a true hero and legend
But instead I pointed the car right towards the N21 and the Curragh of Kildare.
Like most people I was sad to hear of the death of the great Dermot Earley, a hero and legend of our time. Word of his illness had spread far and wide and when the news arrived, we were shocked and saddened.
In 2006, I had the honour of presenting him with an Irish Examiner-sponsored GAA President’s Award.
He valued it as much as an All-Ireland medal. He spoke elegantly at the function on behalf of all the other recipients and I discovered sometime afterwards that he had not only written a letter of thanks to me but to every member of the committee who had organised the function.
A perfect example of what a true gentleman he was.
One of the committee members was RTÉ newscaster, Eileen Dunne. It was interesting to discover that Eileen Dunne’s father, the late great broadcaster Mick, was Dermot’s hero.
Indeed they had played for the same club, which Dermot’s father help found.
He also gave great service to his adopted club in Kildare, Sarsfields. The club, in the best GAA traditions, organised refreshments for mourners at the funeral and you were no sooner in the clubhouse than you felt the imposing presence of Earley as the walls were adorned with great photographs of him from his playing days.
And what a powerful player he was. I will always remember the physical power of the man when I first saw him in Croke Park. The size and power of his thighs was what struck me most.
Years before power and muscle became obsessions for many athletes, Earley had them naturally. He was a brilliant and skilful footballer as well, one of the select few who played minor, U21, junior and senior football for his county in the one year.
Earley did that in 1966 and for the next 20 years he dominated at inter-county level for his beloved Roscommon.
Earley is regarded by many as the greatest player never to win an All-Ireland medal and in Kerry, it is a view I often heard expressed. I don’t think it bothered Dermot Earley hugely. Like the legendary Mick O’Connell, the challenge was to master the game and play it as it should be played.
Nevertheless, if any man deserved an All-Ireland medal it had to be Earley. The great Kerry four in a row team will tell you that Roscommon should have beaten them in 1980 — they were good enough but a bit of luck and lack of experience of playing in All-Ireland deciders meant they fell slightly short.
But if Dermot had been born in Kerry, how many All-Ireland medals would he have? Given his inter-county career stretched from 1966 to 1985, a period in which Kerry won 10 All-Irelands, he could have the record number of All-Ireland medals.
Indeed, if Dermot Earley had been playing for Kerry they would probably have won one or two more All-Irelands in that period. An intriguing consideration.
Having retired from football Earley put a huge amount back into the game.
He managed both Roscommon and Kildare, he was chairman, manager and filled many other roles at club level as well.
When Michael Maguire took over as Roscommon county chairman at a turbulent and fractious time, the man who guided him through it by his regular phone calls and sound advice was none other than the former Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces.
Yes, his influence spread far and wide, inside and outside the GAA, at home and abroad.
Dermot Earley was a great hero and as Kieran McGeeney said of his son, Dermot Jnr, lining out for Kildare a few short hours after burying his father: “The Earleys take representation seriously.”
Let’s take representation seriously, be it club or county, village or country.
