EARLS OF WISDOM
Ex-kildare star candid on his cancer scare & dad’s death
FATHER AND SON Dermot senior and junior
DERMOT EARLEY has opened up about his cancer scare and the passing of his famous father in an upcoming episode of Laochra Gael.
The profile of the former Kildare star’s life and career will be broadcast on TG4 next Thursday night and will wrap up the current series.
There will be another helping later in spring, featuring the likes of Eoin Larkin, Liam Griffin, Sean Cavanagh, Briege Corkery and Pete Mcgrath.
Earley won All-stars in 1998 and 2009 – the longest gap between awards in the history of the scheme – as his form peaked under the guidance of Mick O’dwyer and Kieran Mcgeeney at either end of his career.
In between, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2002 but still played in that year’s Championship.
“In January 2002 I felt a lump where I shouldn’t have a lump,” he explained. “I went to see an oncologist in late January on a Friday afternoon in Galway.
“Through an ultrasound he said, ‘Yeah, I am pretty sure that’s cancerous. I’m going to operate on Monday’. What goes through your head is, first of all, will I be ok? Secondly you are thinking, will I be able to have kids? All this sort of stuff. Will you be able to have a relationship if you are young?
“All these things start going through our head when you discover a lump in one of your testicles and it’s quite a shock because at the time you are pretty much feeling invincible.
“Football kind of gets pushed to the side because it is not important any more. Your health is more important.”
Earley admitted that his Kildare career was petering out and he considered retirement until Mcgeeney’s appointment in late 2007, which revitalised him.
Their best season under Mcgeeney was in 2010, when they reached the All-ireland semi-final. That same summer, Earley had to deal with the loss of his father, Roscommon legend and former Defence Forces Chief of Staff, Dermot Senior, to Creutzfeldt– Jakob disease, aged 62.
“It wasn’t until early January (2010) that we were given a diagnosis that it was a form of CJD and a terminal form.
“It was a really difficult time for us, and it was just a shock, a man who was so big, so physically strong, at the top of his game, that something like this could happen.
“He was always the person that looked after you, looked out for you, gave you that bit of advice.
“To lose that side of it, he probably became very quiet within himself. It was tough to watch that.
“We ended up having a vigil with him for three days and he passed away at 12 o’clock in the day surrounded by all of us.
“One of the things the army do well is state funerals and they wanted to give him a funeral as a former Chief of Staff.
“We knew his funeral was going to be big and we said, ‘Yeah, we agree’. We saw him as our dad but down in Roscommon, he is something else. He is a hero as well.”
Earley and his Kildare team-mates pay tribute to Dermot senior after he passed in 2010
SHANE LOWRY is confident he will earn his first Ryder Cup qualification - whether it happens early or late.
Lowry knows he can’t rely on his friend Padraig Harrington to pick him as one of the three wild cards for Whistling Straits.
Indeed, the European skipper has indicated he will go with golfers who have previous Ryder Cup experience.
Offaly man Lowry is 36th on the European points list and 18th on the World points list – 32 places off the automatic spots in the former and nine away in the latter.
While still the reigning Open champion, he has not had a top 10 finish since coming sixth in the St Jude Classic in February last year.
Lowry needs a stellar week in a big ranking tournament but as desperate as he is to play in the Ryder Cup, panic will get him nowhere at this stage.
“If I’m sitting at home in September watching it on TV it’s not going to be a good place for me,” admitted Lowry.
“But I’m very comfortable in my own ability and mental thoughts and where I’m at in the game now.
“I’m 34 this year and feel I have
matured quite well, so I’m confident I will make the team.
“It’s up to me to go out and play good golf. It might happen this week, next week or the week after - or even with only a few weeks to go.
“But I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing.”
Disappointed to miss the cut in his first event of the year in Abu Dhabi, he teed off just inside the top 10 in Dubai last Sunday.
A tied 27th finish was not the plan but Lowry said: “I didn’t have the best two weeks but I have been around long enough to realise that a full season doesn’t rest on the first two weeks of the year.
“I sort of look at it now where I am going to play 25 to 30 events this year and I am going to have some good events, some average events and some bad events.
“This is a place that I like playing golf, in the desert.
“I’m happy to be here and had a decent week last year.
“I feel like my game is in decent shape but if I don’t hole those putts I need to be holing, I won’t do any good.
“But if I do, I probably will.”