From playmaker to matchmaker: The year that was for Johnny Doyle
Allenwood and Kildare legend Johnny Doyle Photo: ©INPHO/Tom Maher
Johnny, it was a special time for you, this time last year, as you prepared for an All-Ireland Intermediate Club semi-final with Allenwood.
Ah yeah, Pat, it was a really special time. We were getting ready a Leinster Championship Final and I never thought, with our club, we'd get that far. There used to be a saying around us that if you're still in the championship on the August weekend you were doing really well. I don't ever remember Allenwood in the Championship on August weekend so to be still going December and getting ready for Leinster Club Final was very special.
I think as you get older maybe you get more nostalgic about these things. I often played in big matches and we won in one in 2004 but I probably didn't embrace that. I remember driving into the club on the Friday morning before the Final and looking around the grounds. I went down memory lane in my own head about different people from the past and different people that I would have known. Huge Allenwood men that would have built the club.
We went on and won it and got to an All-Ireland semi-final and it was a kick of a ball of getting to An Ireland Final. That’s sport, I suppose, from the highs of winning to the lows of losing. You look back and say it was great but there is that little bit of regret that you didn't get to Croke Park. The competitor that's in you, if you were bet in the final it would be as difficult as well. You always want to go that extra bit but it was a special time for the club.
And it was a special time for the village as well.
Yeah, it was embraced by the whole community, not just the GAA. We got to know people around the village that ordinarily you mightn’t have got to know. We carried that through to this year and we went through the whole League Division 2 unbeaten and that was with losing a few lads, we lost Darragh Malone to traveling. In the last three years we got from Division 3 to Division 1, which is pleasing enough. It's a new challenge for the current crop to stay there and build on that and be consistent Division 1 team. We certainly enjoyed the journey at the club.
It was a difficult and challenging time at county level, how did it play out in your in your mind?
JD: It was challenging for everybody involved, management and players. Management is one thing but the players have to live and realistically you try to prepare the players for the eventuality of what's going to happen on matchday. They're the ones that have to implement it, they're the ones that have to put through the hard craft and disappointments and the doubts in themselves when things aren't going well. It was difficult for the players too, and the group that were there deserve huge credit because they stuck on task, even though at times it felt like the whole thing was falling down around us. You could see all the problems; the solutions were probably a little bit more difficult. It was difficult time for the County Board and for supporters. While we do have a few noisy supporters and I've quoted Kieran McGeeney on the Sunday Game saying those who know the least make the most noise. We certainly had a few of them, but the general the genuine GAA people in Kildare couldn’t be more supportive.
I’ve said this in the past, regardless of anything, we're all supporters of the GAA. If you're lucky enough or brave enough to get involved, be that at County Board or as a player or get involved in any aspect of the GAA, once you put your head above the parapet it's there to be knocked by the few that really don't ever get involved in anything. So yeah, it was difficult and it was difficult for a number of reasons.
What were some of those reasons?
We lost a lot of players from Year 2 to Year 3, particularly in the forward division. We played most of the most of the Championship without Ben McCormick, Jimmy Hyland. Dan (Flynn) was in and out with injuries, Neil Flynn, Jack Robinson. That’s five forwards.
If you took five forwards out of Kerry, take the two Cliffords out, take five forwards out of Armagh that would make a difference. We made plenty of mistakes but you make a decision and you’re a genius if it works and if it doesn't work, you’re a fool. That’s part and parcel of the management, but it was frustrating. It was particularly tough on Glenn (Ryan). You know Glenn a lot longer than I do, Pat. Glenn is an out and out Kildare man to the core. Some of the stuff that was said, if it was said in the workplace, people would be sacked.
And I would go to hell back for Glenn Ryan as a manager or a friend in the morning because he is the most genuine, honest, straight, passionate Kildare man that I've ever met.
The players, in fairness to them, supported him and he supported them and a lot of good friendships were made and sometimes in life and in sport, you have to go back to go forward. I think there was a lot of good work there but we didn't see the fruits of it. The base is there for Brian (Flanagan) and his group to go on and I think that some of the work will be a benefit in the future.
It was a tough time and people would say to you, I'd say you're glad it's all over but there's still a little bit of an itch because you are a competitor and you want to get the best and you wanted to be better. It doesn't sit well with you but that's the risk you take and that’s sport. I'd like to think that along with the other management you instilled some strong values within some of the players that are still there. The panel will change, new people will come in. We would have seen a lot of young lads coming in that are really good honest lads and hopefully they will have learned a bit from us that will take them on in their journey.
Did you realise at the start that this was going to be your last Club Championship campaign?
No, I didn't, if I'm honest. Certainly, I know the end was coming. A few people would have said to me would you not leave it out, you’re after winning an intermediate (championship). I played the game every year for the reason at the end for the same reason that I did at the beginning. I just love playing. I didn't see it as an age thing. I was looking for young lads to come and take the jersey and if he's good enough to take it, he’ll take. Rather than just handing it over, he's got to work for it.
It must have been a source of pride, though, to be back playing senior championship with the club after a few barren years.
That was my 29th championship campaign. It was good to be back playing senior and it was great to be back in Division 1. After the last game against Athy I was coming off the field and maybe someone said to me, is that it and I said you can’t go on forever. Maybe if I was back in that situation, I probably would have said, ah sure we’ll see. I think it was Tony Scullion who famously said I didn’t retire they just stop picking me. (Laughs) I was probably still thick that Noel Mooney took me off (Laughs again) That's just me, I will always be involved in the club.
I know a few people try to retire you few years ago, but is it definitely retirement from senior football now?
Obviously, Noel has moved on and he will be seen as the most successful manager the club has ever had. Mark Hogarty has come in to take the reins. Look if got a phone call to say we’re tight on numbers tonight, are you around. Would I say, no I'm not, I’m retired. Of course I wouldn’t, that’s my club and I would expect anyone else to do the same.
The Tuesdays and Thursdays having to be in Allenwood, they’re a thing of the past but that’s fine. I’m 47 in January I got a lot of time out of it and, touch wood, I came away unscathed.
What were the main highlights from your club career, Johnny?
Winning the senior championship was huge. In ‘71 Allenwood won the senior championship final. We would have had very good teams and my Da would have been heavily involved and he would have huge regrets over not winning championships..
Joe Doyle would have played with Leinster; you had Patsy Kelly who played for years for Kildare. John Slattery was in goals. Some great footballers were involved down the years. Jack Kelly, John Anderson, great club man and they just didn't get over the line.
Bar playing himself the joy it gave my Da, he was Chairman of the club, so that was a very special day. We went on and won our first game in Leinster and then Skryne beat us by a point. Last year was huge as well, coming from virtually nowhere to go on the run we did. We used to go training and play a full match and still have two or three subs on the line. I was at training in the barren days sometimes when there were only eight training and we still had to plough on. Sometimes, when you're see one end of the scale, you really appreciate the stuff.
Apart from your Dad, Harry, who might have been the influences on your club career?
There were lots, I suppose, Pat. When I started it was schools’ football, U10, U11, U13. Jim Hanafin was the main man in Allen School. Jim was a huge influence on us. It was a different time. You’d be racing to get to school which started at half nine but I'd rather be there at half eight. I always remember my Ma say if there is any trouble you’ll be blamed so you weren’t allowed to leave till about five to nine. I was about a half a mile from school so I’d hare up and there would be a game going on in the school yard. It was the same at 11 o'clock, at big lunch and then after school. Gerry Riordan was the Principal and he encouraged us to be the best we could be. There was very little coaching, only jumpers for goalposts. It was just play and you figured it out yourself.
I would have worked locally with a local nursery and Larry Dunne owned it and his brother Kieran. I worked for them from about 12 right through to maybe the middle of college. Laurence was manager of the team and I was coming on to play a bit at 16/17 and he would have brought me onto the senior team.
Mick Doyle, John McNally and Pat Cranny, who just was a really good friend. He passed away during the summer. He never really talked about the game but just supported you.
Family was huge, obviously, my Da but my mother, Phyllis was a huge influence. Just always in the background, no opinion on it. Just picked you up, told you, you were great whether you were not My three sisters just did everything me. Niamh is two years older than me, she's the boss of the family. Linda's three years younger, and then Fran is 10 younger than me. They’re still minding me!
How did your wife, Siobhan, and the three girls, react now that they are going to see more of you, apparently?
Siobhan was always a great support; the girls are a big support. I was always involved in football. Siobhan loved the game; her oldest sister would be Podge Fogarty’s mother, Anne. Mick Fogarty, God be good to him, was heavily involved in football and she, as a kid, used to go to Laurence’s and Kildare matches. Then the kids came along and they’re football mad. We live next door to another sister, who's married to a Milltown man so they’re all Milltown. Cormac, my sister’s oldest lad came in not so long ago and said, I hear your Da is managing Milltown! The three girls were disgusted (Laughs).
Sarah is the oldest and she's 13 and the twins Orla and Amy, are 10 and they’re all football mad too.
Knowing you, Johnny, although you have a full-time job you still weren't satisfied. You started on a new venture, Clinched. How did that come about?
I suppose like every idea, it was around the kitchen table. I’m not really sure how it came about, but I was chatting one with Podge Fogarty and we were talking about trying to get managers and we were thinking there must be an easier way. A light bulb went off in Podge’s head and he got in touch with a really good friend of his, Shane Molloy. He liked the idea and they got chatting to another brother-in-law who is an accountant, about setting up something.
The whole thing was to make it easier for clubs. It was based on the GAA and the concept was could we put clubs and potential managers in the one room. Then we decided if we could do it for GAA why couldn't we do it for other sports. That's when Sean O'Brien came in. Obviously, he’s a world-famous rugby player but he’s a good GAA man. He liked the concept and came on board with us and it's been going well all.
We have clubs from all over the country and I think we have 1,200/1,300 coaches on the platform. We plan to build it out to be a club resource so that clubs can sign up even if they don’t have a position at the moment. We have physios on board now as well.
We are looking at building on to other sports. We have it set up for rugby and Gaelic Games. We’ve had a couple of soccer clubs on to us. We’ve has a couple of clubs in London on to us.
It’s a one-stop-shop for clubs and coaches on any discipline involved in the game, then?
There is nothing else out there. You get the odd Facebook page here and there but with an App on your phone, the concept is good and we’ve had a huge response so far. Obviously around Kildare and Laois and the Leinster area we’d stronger. It caters for everybody and we hope to bring in video analysis as part of it too.
Are you a bit of a matchmaker then?
Someone said to me, it's like Tinder and LinkedIn combined (Laughs)
Where do you hope to take the venture?
Who knows, Pat. In fairness to the lads, Shane, Podge and Brendan, they’ve put a lot of work in over the past year and a half, maybe two years. It has an awful lot and potentially we can build on it but I haven’t had a phone call from Mark Zuckerberg as yet!
So, if people want to get involved how do they go about it?
It's very easy for clubs. All clubs are on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram now so they just follow Clinched or go to your App Store, download it, sign up, register. It takes about two minutes.
You’re excited about the whole thing?
Ah yeah, it's something different and certainly it keeps it keeps the mind occupied and who knows, it has potential to go along way.
So, it’s another chapter in the life of Johnny Doyle, when are you starting the book?
Someone said if I was to write a book a matchbox would do! (Laughs)
