IT SEEMS futile to suggest Dermot Earley might find some consolation in the fact that had Kildare made the All-Ireland final – instead of the finger-tipping loss to Down in the semi-final – he wouldn’t have been able to play. Naturally enough, he doesn’t, and instead the hurt of that narrow defeat still lingers, especially when Earley starts to talk about Down’s meeting with Cork on Sunday.

Earley had hoped to play some role for Kildare in the semi-final, but instead the knee injury he sustained earlier in the season – the dreaded cruciate ligament tear – came back to haunt him, just like it did a certain Henry Shefflin.

So he watched from the sidelines as Down secured the closest of victories, thanks in part to the “square” goal from Benny Coulter, and all he has to look forward to next is an operation on his cruciate, set for October 1st, which will then require about six to eight months rehab.

“I was hoping to avoid the operation,” he says, “but it is the best way to correct it. It stems back to March, when I first tore it in a league match against Laois.

“And then I finished it off against Leitrim, in the qualifiers. I did another bit of damage against Meath, but worked hard for the three weeks before the Down game. I did a fitness test that morning, but it just wasn’t right.

“So the operation is necessary now, because there are other problems as well as the cruciate. And then I start the rehab. It’s a tough winter ahead, but there are two ways of looking at it, a tough winter of training, or a tough winter of rehab. I’d prefer the training, but I’ll go at it, and do whatever I have to do.”

At 32, there’s no guarantee Earley will come back as strong a player, but he’s willing to make the commitment. And he’s not feeling too sorry for himself, particularly as he was in Dublin to announce his new role as a Unicef Ireland ambassador, along with Galway hurler Joe Canning, in association with the GPA (Gaelic Players Association).

The GPA have made Unicef one of their dedicated charity partners for the next two years, and Earley and Canning will make a Unicef field visit in October, most likely in Kenya. On that note, Earley admits a cruciate knee injury is only small stuff: “And I’ve had my far share of injuries before. I’ve got through other things, and I’ll get through this. And I’ve never had any problems with my knees.”

Earley could also sympathise with Shefflin when his cruciate injury gave way just 13 minutes into the All-Ireland senior hurling final, despite the apparently “miraculous” recovery in the few weeks before.

“I really had to let my injury settle for four weeks,” he says, “couldn’t do anything. It was six weeks really before I did anything. I had the time, Henry didn’t. But look, it worked for John Tennyson.

“It just didn’t work for Henry, obviously. You can think you’re right, but it’s different in an AllIreland final, when the ball starts flying. Instinct really takes over.”

Of all the ifs and buts after their semi-final loss to Down, the one that must have upset Kildare the most was Down’s first-half goal, scored when Coulter was clearly in the square. Earley is somewhat forgiving for that, but not about the bigger picture.

“The GAA does need to do something about their standards of referring, and the obvious starting point is to make them professional. Look, that goal wasn’t decisive. Louth in the Leinster final was a different story. That was the last move of the game. We had other opportunities, but it does make the stomach that bit sicker. You’d just hope they’d see ways of improving it.

“Maybe they need to professionalise referees and umpires, before they start changing the rules because they can’t seem to police them correctly. I think the priorities are wrong. So the first thing I’d do is train the referees, make them professional.

“Take the hand-pass rule. Every year they bring in these rules, and then police them for a few weeks. If you look at our semi-final, there were a lot of passes that would have been blown up in May. I think referees realised if there was some sort of strike there, they should let it go. But then Kerry had a goal disallowed against Down, and that was a big call.”

So, given Kildare lost to Down, would Earley prefer to see them win on Sunday, or Cork?

“I think Down are a serious outfit. They have an unbelievable work ethic, as a team. It’s the full 15, not individuals, and even within that they’ve big playmakers. I think they can win it. But I still think Cork are going to win.”