Doyle inspired by deeds of Jackie’s Army
Six-year-old Kevin followed his dreams and became an ace international striker
THIRTY YEARS ago, the Republic of Ireland football team came to the end of an unforgettable adventure that saw them go all the way to the quarter-finals of their first World Cup in Italy, bringing Jack’s Army, that we were all part of, on the journey of a lifetime.
For those of a more mature vintage, the tournament brings back memories of a chest-swelling pride in our nation and mighty craic in houses and hostelries the length and breadth of the country, but for some of a young variety it stirred up thoughts of a career in professional football that would allow them to emulate their heroes in green.
Far away from the football fields in Italy, an eager six-year-old intently watched on as his country made waves on the international stage, himself dreaming of pulling on an Ireland jersey some day as he sprinted out to the garden to replicate what he had seen beaming brightly from the television set in the corner of the room.
That youngster was none other than Kevin Doyle, who would go on to represent Ireland with distinction 62 times, scoring 14 goals in the process as he gave his all for the cause throughout his career.
However, Doyle admitted that none of it may have ever happened had it not been for the pioneering players that performed so well for Ireland in Italia 90.
‘It’s my first main memory of football really. It’s the reason me and my brother played soccer. I’d imagine it’s the reason a whole generation of young fellas played and were inspired to play soccer.
‘We’ve all seen plenty of highlights since, obviously the famous moment with Timofte against Bonner. I loved it all. I was sitting back recently with my seven-yearold during the lockdown watching the Italy v. Ireland game and I was telling him all about it. I would say that tournament is the reason that I ended up being a professional soccer player,’ he said.
It won’t come as a shock to many that watched his career blossom to learn that a young Doyle was so enamoured with the Irish football team, but the player who he says he wanted to follow in the footsteps of may be a bit of a surprise to some.
‘The team inspired me but if I could have I would have actually been a goalie, because I just wanted to be Packie Bonner. He played a big part in me wanting to be a footballer but I suppose it didn’t play a part in terms of the position I ended up playing.
‘I used to be out on the lawn with my Packie Bonner gloves on, or at least what I thought looked like Packie Bonner gloves. That whole World Cup I can vividly remember sitting watching all the games and either beforehand or straight away afterwards getting out on the lawn playing soccer for hours. That’s my abiding memory of it. All that team were legends in our eyes,’ he said.
As a devoted young fan, he was keen to see the affable Donegal netminder on more than just his television set, and an opportunity arose not long after the World Cup, but the popularity of the Boys in Green at the time made it difficult to get face to face with his hero.
‘When they came home, I remember Packie Bonner came to New Ross because Opel had a showroom there. He came to do an appearance not long after the World Cup and we went thinking we’d get to see him and there was what seemed like thousands of people there. We didn’t get anywhere close to him,’ he recalled.
The impact of the 1990 World Cup on Doyle is clear when you consider that as a seven-year-old he joined the Adamstown
Under-10s, the start of a successful career that saw him play for St. Patrick’s Athletic, Cork City, Reading, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Queens Park Rangers, Crystal Palace and finally Colorado Rapids, before enforced retirement in 2017.
It goes without saying that Doyle was still an avid fan when Ireland reached the World Cup again four years later, but the 36-year-old says the tournament in the United States was never going to match the maiden voyage, which was enhanced by the sweet innocence of youth.
‘In 1994 I was a bit older and I didn’t enjoy it as much because I was more worried. In 1990 I was just happy to watch, whereas the next one I wasn’t able to enjoy the games in the same way. I used to have to watch them from behind the door. I used to be really nervous watching those games.
‘Maybe we were expecting more. We did manage to get out of the group but we had been spoiled by 1990. I was a bit naive for the first one I suppose. I just thought Ireland were brilliant and I didn’t look too much into it. In 1994 I was disappointed they didn’t get further,’ he said.
All the talk of World Cups brings back bitter memories for Doyle, who was twice named the Republic of Ireland Senior International Player of the Year, with the fact that he never made it to the tournament as a player himself, something that’s still galling, particularly having come agonisingly close to qualifying for South Africa in 2010.
‘We had a good squad with Ireland at the time. A lot of us were at our peak as professionals, so it would have been fantastic to get there. We were very close but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. I would have loved it. I felt it was inevitable that we were going to go to the World Cup so it was a bit of a shock that we didn’t qualify,’ he said.
Having gone through the qualifiers unbeaten under manager Giovanni Trapattoni, but finishing six points behind group winners Italy, Ireland were left with the daunting task of facing France in a two-legged play-off.
What seemed an uphill battle turned into an Everest-like mountain to climb when a Nicolas Anelka goal earned the visitors a 1-0 win in Croke Park in the first match.
However, in the return leg Ireland put in a spirited and skilful performance, with a first-half goal from Robbie Keane drawing them level on aggregate, and they then had the better of it, having plenty of the ball and creating enough chanc
es to win the tie in 90 minutes.
Then disaster struck in extra-time when a clear double handball by Thierry Henry was missed by the match officials and his cross was nodded to the net by William Gallas, ending Ireland and Doyle’s hopes of appearing at a World Cup finals in the cruellest of fashions.
‘People blame Thierry Henry and all that, but I don’t. We played really well in Paris and should have beaten them in the game before it ever went to extra-time. So be it, it’s one of the things I look back on with a bit of regret.
‘There’s not too many things that I look back on with regret but that would be one of them, not going to a World Cup,’ he said.
To this day Doyle believes that if Ireland had got the rub of the green that night in Paris, they could well have made a mark in South Africa given the calibre of player that Giovanni Trapattoni had at his disposal.
‘We had a tough qualifying group, but we were right in there at the end. It shows the talent we had around then. Robbie Keane was at his peak, Damien Duff was at his peak, and Richard Dunne, all players that were top players at their peak at that time. If we had got there I’m sure we would have put on a good show
‘If we played anything like we did that night in Paris, we could have done well.
It was as good a performance from an Ireland team that I’ve played in. We were good all over the pitch.
‘It’s just disappointing we didn’t win that game because we had chances to finish it off before it ever went to extra-time. It’s a bit of a regret when I look back on it, but
I used to be out on the lawn with my Packie Bonner gloves on. All that team were legends
sure that’s life,’ he said.
Two years later Doyle did get to experience tournament football, the ill-fated Euro 2012 finals, which saw Ireland tamely lose all three of their group games – against Croatia, Spain and Italy – but he believes both the players and management were on the wane by that stage.
‘We were a couple of years older and we’d been together a long time. Maybe it had gone a bit stale at that stage. We didn’t feel like that at the time, but just looking back on it we were.
‘Our manager Trapattoni was a top class manager, but he was also probably gone past his best at that stage. As an older man it was becoming more difficult for him.
‘We qualified, which was great, but it wasn’t a World Cup though. The World Cup is the one, European Championships are grand and all, but to go to a World Cup would have been a fantastic experience.
‘Everyone that I know that I would have played with that played at a World Cup said it’s just a totally different thing altogether. It’s a bugbear of mine that I didn’t get to one, but that’s the way it goes and I try to not think about it too much,’ he said.
Turning his attentions to more positive matters, Doyle is grateful that he managed to carve out a hugely successful career in the game he loves, after being inspired by household names like McGrath, Staunton and Quinn, allowing him to run out on to the pitch to take on the best of the best in England, including his boyhood favourites Manchester United.
While admitting it was a thrill to be able to pit his wits against the Red Devils, he said in his mind it was easy to separate the side he was facing from the one he idolised in his formative years.
‘If it had been the Man United team I grew up supporting it would have been different. If it had been Eric Cantona and Peter Schmeichel, that Man United team, I’d have been a bit more in awe of them. When it’s just another game and another team I didn’t think about it like that. The team I supported in my head was a different team than the one I was playing against.
‘I suppose my love for them after playing against them was tarnished. You experience the other side of it, so it’s hard to support a team when you’re playing against them. It was nice to play against Man United obviously. It would have been a dream as a kid and if anybody said that to me I wouldn’t have believed them,’ he said.
As a player who fed off the crowd, Doyle doesn’t think he would have enjoyed the current environment, with behind closed doors games in a sterile setting the order of the day, but given the exemplary professionalism he illustrated during his playing days it’s a given that he would have gotten on with things in his usual no-nonsense fashion.
‘It’s not ideal, it takes a lot away from it. I always felt I played better in a good atmosphere, with a good crowd, and I think every sportsperson would say that it inspires you a bit and gives you an extra boost.
‘It’s not ideal now but that’s the way it is, you just have to get on with it,’ he said.
And get on with it is something he always did. Appearing at a World Cup finals may be the one glaring omission from Kevin Doyle’s curriculum vitae, but without the heroics of the Irish players 30 years ago he might not have even got the opportunity to go so close.
That’s something both he and those that had the pleasure of watching him play should be thankful for.