Football

My most memorable match - by Allenwood and Kildare's Johnny Doyle

Allenwood and Kildare's Johnny Doyle (left), pictured tackling Jamie Jordan of Skryne in the 2004 Leinster Club Senior Football Championsip. Doyle's greatest day though came when Allenwood defeated St Laurence's in the county final the previous month, the club's first-ever county triumph
Allenwood and Kildare's Johnny Doyle (left), pictured tackling Jamie Jordan of Skryne in the 2004 Leinster Club Senior Football Championsip. Doyle's greatest day though came when Allenwood defeated St Laurence's in the county final the previou Allenwood and Kildare's Johnny Doyle (left), pictured tackling Jamie Jordan of Skryne in the 2004 Leinster Club Senior Football Championsip. Doyle's greatest day though came when Allenwood defeated St Laurence's in the county final the previous month, the club's first-ever county triumph

WHEN he entered adult football, Johnny Doyle was always built like the proverbial jockey’s whip. Growing up, he just couldn’t put weight on.

It got to the stage where his father – Harry Doyle – brought him to the doctors to see if there were any underlying health problems with his son.

The doctor ushered the pair out of the room and told them there was nothing to worry about.

Doyle made his senior debut with his club Allenwood in 1995 and his first championship appearance came the following autumn.

He slipped through the net at minor level in Kildare but was so impressive for his club that he was called up to the Lilywhites senior team by Mick O’Dwyer in 2000.

Touching a modest 10 stone, Doyle recalls: “When ‘Micko’ came in, we were looking at nutritionists and stuff and he said: ‘It just might be the way you're made.’

“I never carried any weight. Now, I got a bit heavier as I got older. I finished just over 12 stone which is light for an inter-county footballer.

“I did my weights but I never put on much weight. But I think that stood to me. I never pulled a hamstring, never broke a bone, the only thing I had was having to get a bit of cartilage cleared up in my knee.

“To this day, I’m playing away and did the marathon last October.”

Doyle couldn’t have timed his run onto the inter-county stage any better.

With Micko’s sheer charisma and presence, Kildare claimed a Leinster title in 1998 - their first since 1956 - and were pipped by Galway in the All-Ireland final that same summer.

Two years later, there was still plenty left in the Lilywhites as they beat Dublin after a replay in the Leinster decider with young Doyle a key cog in the Lilywhites wheel.

“When Kildare reached an All-Ireland final in ’98 and then we won Leinster again in 2000, you thought that those days were here to stay,” Doyle ruefully remembers.

“Twenty years later we haven’t got another Leinster. so the 2000 Leinster win probably passed me by a little bit as it was my first year on the panel.”

So when you ask the greatest footballer to come out of Kildare his most memorable match, Doyle wonders aloud.

“There are probably a couple of matches that stand out. I could pick winning Leinster in 2000, I could pick playing Donegal in my first year in Newbridge, I could pick the day Dermot Early senior was buried and we played Antrim that night [2010] in Newbridge.

“Probably the most memorable day for me was the 3rd of October 2004. That was the day Allenwood won our first-ever senior championship.”

When you scroll through the roll of honour in Kildare, Sarsfield’s, Moorefield, Clane and Carbury dominate.

Your eye has to keep heading south before Allenwood’s name appear.

“My earliest memories were around Allenwood and I suppose the fact my Dad played for Allenwood all his life,” Doyle says.

“When I was four or five years of age I was brought down to the field with him. You knew everybody that was associated with the club.

“You were down there with a brush, sweeping up, or down there with a wheel barrow, working in the club. It wasn’t just the people on the team that you wanted to win for, there were stalwarts of the club: the likes of John McNally and Pat Cronley.

“Without those guys we wouldn’t have had a club - just great, great clubmen - and there are loads more. When the club had nothing they would have invested money in it to try and get it up and running.”

One of four GAA clubs in the parish, Allenwood rests snugly in the north-west of the county close to the Offaly border. Formed in 1956, they’ve roughly 200 members.

“In my youth, our club was the senior football field and a hall that was opened in 1972. We’re a relatively young club.”

In 1961, Allenwood won the Junior A championship and the following year scooped the intermediate title.

In ’71, they reached their first-ever senior championship final but were well beaten by Carbury [1-13 to 1-8].

“My dad was always involved in the club. He was treasurer for a good number of years and served on committees. The club developed an underage pitch and then developed a second full-size pitch. We were also the first club in Kildare to have a full floodlit pitch (1999). So we were a very progressive club.

“And I would have grown with that, seen the work that went on, the different people who came in and did the work.

“Allenwood won the intermediate in 1990; my dad was training the team, and I was the mascot for the final. It was embedded in me.

“I would have known lots of guys who played in the 71 team, a lot of them still knocked around the club and you’d hear the hard-luck stories of the county final that year.”

They made a few semi-finals before reaching another final in ’99, but they were again put to the sword, this time by county lynchpins Sarsfield’s.

That seven-point defeat in St Conleth’s Park, Newbridge was perhaps the start of Allenwood’s torturous climb to the summit.

A young Johnny Doyle, front right, as mascot ahead of Allenwood's Intermediate final in 1990
A young Johnny Doyle, front right, as mascot ahead of Allenwood's Intermediate final in 1990 A young Johnny Doyle, front right, as mascot ahead of Allenwood's Intermediate final in 1990

The seniors were building nicely under Ray O’Sullivan.

Ken Doyle had earned his county stripes at corner-back but played centre-forward for his club. David Hughes and Mark Hogarty also had spells with Kildare while Niall O’Callaghan was a handful at full-forward.

Just when it seemed Allenwood were primed to finally end their pursuit of the Holy Grail, club captain was due to get married on the day of their eagerly anticipated county semi-final showdown with Sarsfield’s in '04.

“The big game for us was when we played Sarsfields in the semi-final – Dermot Early and Niall Buckley’s club – and they were the town team,” Doyle explains.

“We struggled against them a few times and could never beat them. But a strange thing happened as the county semi-final was fixed for September 12 of that year, and our captain and my best buddy [John Wiltshire] was getting married on the Saturday.

“I was best man and the four groomsmen were all players. It was going to take away from the wedding and that we’d all be on the dry.

“But, in fairness to Sarsfield’s, they agreed to move the match to the Saturday – and the match was moved from two o’clock to half-12. So John obviously got married. Luckily enough, the reception was in The Keadeen in Newbridge.

“We rushed up to get a few wedding pictures taken and we went up to the match in our full bridal attire and we played the match, as well as John. We won the match and went back up for the reception. So it was a big, big day.

“John’s wife arrived on the scene too and there was champagne afterwards courtesy of the county board. It’s in the history book of the club - it’s all in there.

“For me, that was the big one. When we beat Sarsfield’s that instilled a bit of confidence in us.”

St Laurence’s awaited Allenwood in the subsequent final. Neither club had won a senior championship before, but it was felt that Allenwood might have already played their ‘final’ against Sarsfield’s.

It transpired the boys in sky blue and navy had enough in reserve to clinch their historic first senior title.

“I remember it was a really wet day, we travelled into Newbridge by bus and it’s something we hadn’t done before because Kildare is such a small county.

“There was an air of nervousness and obviously the village was decked out in sky blue and navy. A local guy made a video and had been at training the night before.

“While the manager [Ray O’Sullivan] was trying to keep things down, he also knew that these were important days and we should enjoy them as well. Ray was a Sarsfield’s man whose son actually played against us in the semi-final.

“We could have easily fallen into the trap because we had beaten Sarsfield’s in the semi-final and we might have thought the final would be easy, so we were mindful of falling at the final fence.”

The 2004 Kildare county championship final was a tense affair. Doyle, who played midfield for Allenwood, was well shackled by St Laurence’s for most of the game, but the county star finally broke free on a couple of occasions in the second half to keep their rivals at bay.

“Do you know, I’ve often played better,” Doyle says.

“I played in the middle of the field but you were still seen as the chief scorer for the team as well...

“The game finished 0-11 to 0-7. It wasn’t a game that was free-flowing, it was tight and you knew you were going to be well marshalled as well but I kicked a couple of points. I remember getting one in the second half.

“The ball came out towards the wing and I checked inside and you wouldn’t have had to ask me twice to have a shot, so I had a go and I kicked a great point with my left foot with a few minutes to go.

“But it was more of a game of grafting and doing the simple things well and not trying to over-elaborate. The performance was in no way more memorable than the actual winning of the title.”

There would be no more hard-luck stories around Allenwood. The final defeats of ’71 and ’99 had been well and truly exorcised by Johnny Doyle and co in 2004.

“My Dad was chairman of the club at the time and he was on the sideline,” Doyle says.

“I just remember standing embracing him after the final whistle. We just hugged and I suppose he was as happy for me as he was for everyone at the club as he’d played in the county final back in 1971.

“To finally land the big one was a massive deal. I just wasn’t happy for myself, there were so many people that it meant so much to.”

Johnny Doyle was lucky to have had so many memorable days in an astonishing playing career for both club and county. He played 67 Championships for Kildare and didn’t miss one game. He scored 23-579 in 159 League and Championship games.

Too young to appreciate winning Leinster in 2000, Doyle was a rare force of nature throughout the 'Noughties'.

He was the heartbeat of Kieran McGeeney’s years in charge that are remembered more for their near-misses and hard-luck stories than victories.

“I don’t buy into the club versus county,” Doyle says. “It’s the people you play with. I’ve friends that I played with in Kildare that would be as good a friends as I had growing up. Even though the circle is broken and you don’t see them all the time, but the likes of Ronan Sweeney and these guys, I’d speak to them like I’d speak to the guys I went to school with. We’d some great days with Kildare; some tough days as well.”

But the 3rd of October 2004 will always be the day when one of the country's great footballers touched the sky wearing the sky blue and navy colours of his club.