Doyle searching for ‘safe’ house to watch big game
“I am still trying to figure out where to watch the game,” he admitted yesterday. “I saw a few matches over here but I had to go to the pub to watch them on RTÉ. I don’t want to be seen in the pub tonight as we have a game against Hull on Saturday. I just have to find a house with RTÉ for the night.”
Don’t for a moment think that the Wexford man is grabbing a lift on the bandwagon on the week that is. He stood amongst the supporters at last week’s draw against Shelbourne and afterwards chewed the fat with erstwhile colleagues, Liam Kearney and George O’Callaghan.
Championship credentials doesn’t mean club, the fans and the city of Cork will be forgotten.
“It was brilliant for me,” he says of life on Leeside. “As a club it improved me as a footballer and got me noticed cross channel. It got me used to playing in front of big crowds and big occasions.
“There is proper sports coverage down in Cork with the papers like the Examiner and the Echo and radio stations like Red FM and all of those things combined to make be better as a footballer.”
Pat Dolan is another who should be included in that latter sentence. Dolan spotted Doyle, then with Adamstown, playing for a Wexford League selection. He signed Doyle for St Pats and when Dolan headed south, Doyle was amongst his first signings. Ironically the Dolan link continues as brother Eamonn is academy manager at the Madejski Stadium.
“St Pats was good but you did not get the same recognition as you get down in Cork and I think that Derry is a bit that way as well.”
It is easy to see why Doyle was a fans’ favourite. In his first season at Turner’s Cross he hit five goals in 39 appearances. He finished the 2004 campaign as City’s top scorer with 13 including strikes against Nijmegen and Nantes in the Intertoto Cup before being short-listed for the Irish Soccer Writer’s Personality of the Year as well as the PFAI Player of the Season.
Prior to his summer departure, he had seven goals in the account - including two in his final game against Finn Harps.
“The game against Finn Harps was pretty memorable,” Doyle admits, “not just because of the goals but because of the send off which I received from the fans that night. That really meant a lot.
“The other highlights of my time there was the European run in the Inter-toto Cup last season and beating Shelbourne in the Setanta Cup this year was also pretty special.”
Since then life for Doyle has been more than special. Four goals in 13 appearances with the Royals and a call up to the Republic of Ireland senior squad are amongst the memorable moments of the past six months. But how does his new footballing life compare with all that he left behind?
“The eircom league doesn’t get much recognition over here but I think the best players in the eircom league would fit in well.
“There is no major difference in skill level. The difference is in the infrastructure and the money. That has been really obvious to me in the four or five months since I came over. Every stadium I play in can hold 20 or 30,000 people.”
Yet all his thoughts this week are of The Shed, the Cross and the thousands present to witness a special event in Irish football.
“I talk to Danny Murphy, Liam Kearney and George O’Callaghan on a fairly regular basis. I would talk to Liam about once a week and I met up with a lot of the lads at the Shelbourne game last week.
“They are nervous as you would expect ahead of a game like this but they know they have to win which I think is a good thing.
“There is no uncertainty - it has to be all or nothing. They have beaten Derry a couple of times this season and I think they are capable of doing so again. But if either club win it will be great for the eircom league. It would be massive as everything seems to be run out of Dublin and for Cork or Derry to win would mean so much.”
Doyle’s 11 games before his departure to pastures new means that he is entitled to a medal - if Cork are victorious. But again he wants to put the club first.
“I played enough games and it would be lovely to get a medal. But I’ll only take it if they have enough - I don’t want to rob someone else of a chance to collect one.”
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