Memories come to life along the lanes of Doyle’s Holycross

HOLYCROSS on a mild December morning.

Not the optimum time to visit the little Tipperary village — the trees are stark and the approach roads still scarred and pitted by the recent ice — but an irresistible destination yesterday all the same, for the funeral of John Doyle.

On the way we turned off the motorway and headed up through Boherlahan, to sample the countryside that produced the great star of the blue and gold — just to see the rolling hills and quiet lanes he would have cycled through on his way to Semple Stadium over 60 years ago as a promising minor prospect.