Doyle not worried about centre stage for Lilies

They have lost arguably a first choice championship midfield in recent weeks but John Doyle insists it is not a problem area for Kildare.

With Dermot Earley’s career apparently ended by his latest injury and rising star Sean Hurley dropped for disciplinary reasons, boss Kieran McGeeney has named an intriguing midfield axis for today’s Championship opener.

Daryl Flynn and U21 forward Daniel Flynn will form a new look midfield axis and one that McGeeney and fans alike will hope finally beds in as a reliable and powerful unit.

Hugh Lynch and Padraig O’Neill also played at midfield during the league while attacker Doyle has had spells there himself as McGeeney has struggled to find a duo he can rely on.

“It can be a trouble area in so far as when things don’t go well, people focus in on it,” said Doyle. “Daryl Flynn had been struggling with injury and he hasn’t got the run of clean health he would have liked and obviously Dermot would have been the out and out purest midfielder.

“But, if you look back on it, I think we have been served reasonably well. Padraig O’Neill has done a fantastic job and as we have seen so often in the last couple of years, the midfield role has changed. It is more of a link role now in the way goalkeepers set up for kick-outs.

“I don’t think it is a problem area for us. We have a lot of lads that are well capable of playing in that position.”

Despite being best known as Kildare’s marquee forward, Doyle admitted he enjoyed his own time at midfield and wouldn’t be against returning there. What’s certain is that the veteran won’t be captain this summer, after McGeeney handed the honour this week to Eamonn Callaghan.

“John Doyle is not going to be there forever,” he said, explaining the decision. “When the time comes whether I decide or Kieran McGeeney decides it’s time for John Doyle to step away, it is nice to have somebody there that is not new to the captaincy role. You couldn’t hand it to a better man than Eamonn Callaghan. He will lead the team from the front.”

Earley may have been a contender for the armband until what initially appeared to be a innocuous back injury suffered the warm up before the Dublin game in the Allianz League effectively ended his career.

Doyle revealed his despair at the development which robbed Earley of one last championship campaign.

“I’d be very close to Dermot, we were in the same class all through secondary school and we were always good buddies,” revealed Doyle. “I lived a bit outside of Newbridge in the country and when I’d stay back for football, Mary Earley would feed me and I was always a regular in their house when I was younger.

“I was sad really when he told me the news. It was the end of an era. We have soldiered together for an awful long time and it just felt like the end of an era that one of your mates was moving on.

“I definitely felt it a little bit more than most lads because your good buddy has moved on. Hopefully he will get back and he is hoping to play a bit with the club. No doubt he will come back to haunt us at club level.”