In memory of Dermot Earley
In Memory of Dermot Earley
The first time Jupiter and Mars looked down upon a yellow field
And saw you cleaving thru the air
To fetch a meteoric orb
out of a clear blue sky
They were bemused
That you their mighty warrior
would engage
in bloodless battles
with mere mortals
men that you had
known from youth
life long comrades
Come of age
But they followed your every move
Your tantalising expositions and evasions when in possession of the globe
Your propelling wizardry that caused a nation of rustic Rossies down their tools and march behind you to the ends of the known earth
From 66 to 85
It was great to be alive
And when your final day was done
They (your Mayo adversaries)
carried you shoulder high
Into your setting sun
A tribute worthy of a games great icon
That had startled them . ..
Those pagan gods
Such adulation they said is reserved for those engaged in bloody conquest
What odds what odds!!
Those who knew you know you were
As fine a General as a Gaelic football Player
That you showed the same humanity and courage in Golan and Angola as in the Hyde or McHale park
Castlebar
Traits you learned among men and dogs
In the rushy conacre fields
Of the Cloontas
Cloonboniffe
And Molly the bogs
A generation has marched on
Since you served your seasons in the sun
Spreading joy and hope
Raising spirits and the people up
With your
Low ball against the wind
Drop kicked to the square
“Look for me if you’re in trouble”
You would say and
......". I will be there"
Your very words were like an answer to our prayer
Now you stand outside your
Gortaganny garden
Cast forever in familiar kicking stance
Bending to strike a ball down the Mayo road from the dance hall
(A bygone ballroom of romance)
As on so many days of old
Hand stretched high
Into a Carrowbehy sky
About to raise again a nations passioned cry
Bedecked in blue and gold
Or one last reveille
Come on the Rossies!!
(2013)
Dermot was one of the most iconic players who ever played the game of Gaelic football.
On top of that he was a superlative human being who made
A profound impression on all who met him
He rose to the top of his profession as chief of staff of the Irish army
He will be most fondly be remembered in his familiar Saffron an Blue
of Roscommon .
