Earley closing in on Lilywhites return

Kildare veteran Dermot Earley has stepped up his rehabilitation from a long-term cruciate knee injury and is closing in on a return to inter-county action.

Earley hasn’t featured for the Lilywhites since August 2010, when he sustained a cruciate knee injury. The knee was operated on the following October but he suffered a recurrence last April and missed the entire 2011 season as a result.

Although he is yet to return to full-contact training, the 33-year-old is back playing football and is hopeful of playing some part in Kildare’s Allianz Football League campaign, although his main goal is to be fit for the start of the Leinster Championship.

“I’d love to play a bit of football in the League but I don’t know,” said Earley, a Cadbury Hero of the Future judge. “I’d love to say, yeah, that I will be available for the Championship but it all depends on how it goes.

“Ideally, yes, that’s my goal to be ready for the Championship. Whatever role that Kieran McGeeney, (the Kildare manager) decides on that’s fair enough.

“I can’t go on a past reputation here. The level has gotten so quick and the fitness levels are so high that I’m under no illusion about the amount of work that I have to do to get to the level I need to get to.

“If I’m not there, there is no room for sentiment.”

Earley says he is adopting a more cautious approach to his return this time around, having learned his lesson from the set-back he suffered last April.

“The knee will let you know, you can’t force your way through it, which maybe I might have done in the past,” he said.

“It will let you know, it will always give you an indication and I need to know when are the days to rest and when are the days not to rest it.”

Earley, who began his senior inter-county career 15 years ago, concedes that until he has a few games under his belt there will always be an element of doubt in his mind about whether the knee will stand up to the rigours of inter-county football.

“You mind it, you’re constantly minding it, until you get that knock or until you go up and land on it and turn without thinking those two devils are going to be on either shoulder,” he says.

“But I think the more you play on it, the more you do those instinctive moves on a football field the more confidence you get.

“Before long you go out and you will forget about it. I knew when I did play in 2010 that I had a problem with my knee.

“But once you get out and start playing football, you start concentrating you will forget about it. It just takes a little bit of time.”

Meanwhile, Earley says the increasing demands being placed on inter-county players can be alleviated by proper man-management by team managers.

An increasing number of players are ending their inter-county careers earlier, citing the increasing pressures being placed on their time, but Earley says his desire to play at the top level is as strong as ever.

“It’s a huge commitment but I think that’s what separates a normal footballer from an inter-county footballer – they are willing to make that commitment,” he added.

“Nobody is forcing them to do that and I would be of the opinion that there’s time enough – maybe it’s because I have had injuries and I have been out for a while – when you aren’t going to be able to play hurling or football and you have to seize the opportunity to play.

“I don’t have kids and I am not married so I can only speak for myself. I understand that for a person who is married and has kids it places a huge time constraint on you, playing inter-county hurling and football.

“It’s about finding the balance. It’s the same with students playing three or four games a week. It’s about man-management and that goes down to the managers to be able to have chats with the junior or senior players on the team.

“It’s about man-management and if you get that right players will be happy.”