Johnny Doyle: 'The first Kildare tracksuit I got from Mick O’Dwyer I nearly slept in it'
A new app, Clinched, that makes it easier to connect sports clubs and candidates around vacant manager and coaching position Clinched was launched in the Lemon & Duke pub in Dublin by four of its co-founders. Pictured are, from left, chief executive officer Brendan Tallon, director Johnny Doyle, director Seán O'Brien, and chief technology officer Shane Molloy
With one line, Johnny Doyle’s daughter floored him both with laughter and the realisation he had squeezed out every drop that Gaelic football could give him.
After 30 years of playing at adult level, the Kildare great confirmed his retirement following Allenwood’s senior championship exit last month. Unstinting, undisputable, Doyle’s commitment to club and county will be the example for generations to come.
Naturally enough after that defeat to Athy, the topic of playing masters football came up in the Doyle household. But the man of the house wasn’t expecting one response. “One of my twin girls, she would be fairly quick with the wit wherever she gets it from. She said to me, ‘Sure, you’re nearly overage for that.’”
Doyle turns 47 in January. Obviously, he counts himself blessed to have been able to play for so long. “Will I mosey on down to the club if the second team are short next year, the grass has been cut and that smell gets you? It could happen but my days of training so many times a week, playing the Saturdays, the Sundays, are over.”
It reached the stage when Doyle’s wise-cracking, young teammates were asked him if the ball was laced when he started playing. He loved it. That’s what he will miss the most. “The dressing room," he smiles. "The people you meet, played with, played against.
“Don't get me wrong, you look back at some of the big games with Kildare, only winning one Leinster (in 2000)… we came close on a couple of occasions but if I had won one All-Ireland, I’d want two. At times, you do have regrets about some of those games but in the general scheme of things I have none and I’d do it all again.
“But I would love to be starting off as an inter-county player now seeing how they get the best of pitches, facilities and gear. The first Kildare tracksuit I got was under Mick O’Dwyer and I nearly slept in it I was so excited.”
Watching his old manager Kieran McGeeney in July bring Armagh to All-Ireland glory in his 10th season in charge, Doyle could be forgiven for wondering what might have happened had Kildare’s clubs chose not to end his reign after six seasons in 2013.
“I saw what Kieran brought. I saw how he totally immersed himself in Kildare, getting involved in coaching and games and seeing what was coming through and trying to find how out we could keep quality players coming through. He was more than just managing the Kildare senior footballers.
“In his first year, I was 30. I'd been through a good bit, I'd have a good knowledge of the county as a whole, and I saw the excitement he brought, and I saw the people he brought in and getting rid of excuses was the big thing. He took that away all the excuses.
“You’ll be told that he didn't bring any success but with the team that was being built things might have been different had he remained. And that’s not to say we didn’t have good managers after.
“On one hand, you would be delighted for him as a person. I want Kildare to win and I don’t really care about anybody else but for Kieran and Julie Davis and Hugh Campbell I was happy for them because when they were in Kildare they wanted the best for Kildare.”
As a member of Glenn Ryan’s backroom team, Doyle met McGeeney in February although it wasn’t in happy circumstances as Armagh trounced Kildare in their Division 2 clash in Carlow.
Following that game, there was an unfortunate clash between Ryan and a local journalist about what was said regarding the besieged manager by the county chairman Mick O’Gorman. Kildare ended up being relegated, failed to qualify for the Sam Maguire Cup, lost to Laois in a Tailteann Cup quarter-final and two-time Leinster SFC winning captain Ryan stepped aside to be replaced by Brian Flanagan.
“It was a tough year on Glenn,” Doyle notes. “It was a tough year on everyone involved. It was a tough year on the county board, a tough year on supporters. We lost a lot of players from the previous year and that took its toll. No Jimmy Hyland, no Ben McCormack. Dan Flynn had a topsy-turvy year with injuries. Confidence goes when you lose a couple of matches.
“We got things wrong. There's no point saying otherwise. You make decisions today, a player goes on and kicks the lights everything and it’s brilliant. And you do the same thing tomorrow, and it doesn't happen for a number of reasons. Suddenly, it’s ‘what are you doing here?’
“The experience of what went on might make the players stronger and you’d be hopeful that they can learn from it. Brian knows a lot of the players coming through from under-age and hopefully the future is bright for Kildare.”
Doyle is excited about the reopening of Cedral St Conleth’s Park for Sunday’s county SFC final between Celbridge and Naas. The unavailability of the Newbridge venue this year may have contributed to the senior team’s demise but it can now be a major asset to Kildare, he says.
“I'm looking forward to Saturday nights, whoever comes to town and the place rocking. The town will be rocking. It is huge for our teams. It’s a home to be proud and one you can go to looking forward to seeing the team.
“And, look, we're in Division 3. It's going to be tough to get out of that. It won’t be automatic but if we can get a couple of early wins on the board the confidence will return.”
Doyle was speaking at the launch of Clinched, a networking app that connects sports clubs with available managers and coaches. Along with Doyle as company directors are his old Kildare team-mate Pádraig Fogarty and former Leinster and Ireland forward Seán O’Brien.
“There are challenges for clubs every second or third year in getting managers and coaches, people to suit their clubs,” says Doyle. “If you’re lucky enough, there will be somebody from within the club but sometimes that doesn’t happen and finding the right person can take a lot of time. Clinched aims to streamline that process.”
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