Earley: Doyle was always cut out to be the middle man

The success of Johnny Doyle’s reincarnation as a midfielder of genuine inter-county class may have surprised many observers, but not Dermot Earley.

Earley has soldiered with Doyle at senior level since 2000 but knows him for longer, having been at school with him in the Patricians in Newbridge.

Ironically, it is Earley’s long-term absence due to a cruciate knee ligament injury that opened the door for Kieran McGeeney to pull thisrabbit out of the hat, and the likelihood is that Doyle would have lined out at midfield, even if Daryl Flynn hadn’t damaged his ankle ligaments in the last training session before the Wicklow clash last month.