Doyle can finally draw his breath as whirlwind season ends

AFTER 18 months, approximately 60 games and two league medals, Kevin Doyle finally got the chance to put the boots in cold storage after Ireland’s defeat to Chile on Wednesday night.

It is a measure of how busy the Reading striker has been since swapping life at Turner’s Cross for the Madejski Stadium that he only received his eircom League winner’s medal from Brian Lennox and Damien Richardson before kick-off two days ago.

That was to prove the high point on an evening where the latest attempt by an Irish team to break free from the straitjacket of 4-4-2 ended prematurely after an abysmal 25 minutes. Like his manager and colleagues, Doyle repeated the line of ‘nothing risked, nothing gained’ but Ireland were ill at ease while playing 3-4-3 and Doyle admitted the formation was difficult to come to terms with.

“I probably felt more nervous ahead of this game than I did before my debut. When you are playing a different formation, one that you don’t use week-in week-out at your club, you have to think about different things.

“I was thinking more about what I had to do and, because I had had a few weeks off, you’re always going to worry about your fitness and sharpness.”

If the game itself was a write-off, the same can’t be said of the camp that preceded it on the Algarve. Doyle enjoyed it so much he will return to Portugal next week with his girlfriend.

“I’m definitely looking forward to my break. Myself and the physio at Reading recently went through the number of games I played and I had hit 60. It was a long season. The adrenalin carried me through but, once we got promoted, I felt it a lot more. Once we were up, what had kept us going all season was gone. It hit me then that I was basically wrecked. I played nearly every game for Reading apart from the first two or three.”

Before his return to Iberia, he hopes to make a return visit to Turner’s Cross to see his old muckers at City and Sunday afternoon will be spent cheering the Wexford footballers from the comfort of his couch in Adamstown.

Unsurprisingly, he won’t take a complete break from the footy. He won’t watch all the World Cup games, but there will be enough of interest to keep him tuned in to what unfolds in Germany.

“It will be interesting to see how England get on with all their talk. In fairness most of the English lads at Reading don’t think they’re that good.

“I want to see all of Brazil’s games and I will be keeping an eye out for the Germans and the Czechs because it won’t be long before we are playing them.”

By the time the Euros do swing around, Doyle and Reading should (hopefully) be finding their feet in the Premiership. His hope for the club next season is that they do a Wigan or West Ham and not a Sunderland.

“It’s going to be a lot tougher in the Premiership, for everyone. I’m looking forward to it and just need to step up again.

“I don’t know whether people thought it was a bigger step from the eircom League to the Championship or from the Championship to the Premiership, but I think it’s about the same.

“I didn’t get long to get used to the Championship before I have to deal with the Premiership. I just have to get a good start. If the team get a good start, it will help me.

“If I can get a couple of goals early on it would help me settle, but I know I need to get better at everything to survive.”