Doyle’s finding that 42 is the answer
Enduring ability to keep on playing is the stuff of legend
WHEN Douglas Adams wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, at the heart the BBC radio comedy turned global literary sensation was an enduring punchline.
Apart from proving such a hit that it spawned a television series and movie and became a cultural phenomenon – ‘Don’t panic’ is just one of the phrases that has endured – it carried a central joke. The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything? Well, that would be 42. When Adams wrote Hitchhiker’s, he probably didn’t have Johnny Doyle in mind. And yet the broad narrative of the story follows the misadventures of a true survivor, Arthur Dent, following the demolition of the Earth by a Vogon constructor fleet to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Which could be said to be a forerunner to Doyle and the status of his native county after the construction of the M7 Motorway.
Johnny Doyle was at it again on Saturday. Even amidst a pandemic, he remains one of life’s constants. As the Kildare Nationalist reported, he continued his remarkable record of appearing in every club championship game for Allenwood since making his debut back in 1996.
Not only that, the 2010 All-Star footballer and Kildare’s all-time top scorer fired over six points in a headline-grabbing ambush of fancied Two Mile House in the first round of the intermediate championship. This, against a team who won the competition in 2018 and were among the tips to repeat that trick after slipping through the relegation trapdoor from senior last year.
But Doyle was one good reason why Allenwood stole the show.
At 42.
AS commentator and Kildare Nationalist Sports Editor Ger McNally pointed out, he made his championship debut for Allenwood on the same day Michelle Smith won the last her four Olympic swimming medals. And, yes, he scored a goal that day to inspire his team to a 2-13 to 0-11 victory over Naas.
Those Hitchhiker’s rules of thumb – ‘Don’t panic’ and ‘Always bring a towel’ – fit neatly with the life of a Gaelic footballer.
Doyle remains a crowd favourite, one of those players whose very mention puts the smile on the face of a room. A lightbulb personality who operates off a socket of positivity. A role model who approaches Gaelic football with an honour and integrity that connects to those around him.
And this, even through all the hard times with Kildare when he seemed to carry a single county’s hopes like a cross on his back. Prepared to fall, not once, not twice, and get back up and carry on.
Even as his career never got the bounty of silverware it promised at the start. In his debut campaign in 2000, he won a Leinster senior championship medal, weighing in then at just 10 stone. Part of Mick O’Dwyer’s Second Coming at a time Leinster like an equal opportunities employer. Centre-forward and already playing the role of attacking conductor. Showcasing the qualities that would become his trademark: a blur of energy and constant movement, selfless link-up play, a lesson in workrate and attitude. And a natural scorer and finisher to boot. Always with the team in mind. When he retired in April 2014 after 15 seasons, it was to gushing plaudits.
Never mind that a Division Two National League medal as captain was the main honour he added to that signature win in his rookie season – he was beloved by the Kildare faithful.
And his talent was recognised for what it was outside the county bounds. When Kieran McGeeney’s Kildare agonisingly lost out to Down in the 2010 All-Ireland semi-final, Doyle was still crowned an All-Star. In 2008 and 2010 he finished as top championship scorer and lies fourth in the overall all-time list behind Cillian O’Connor, Colm Cooper and Mikey Sheehy. In 2013, he was called up for the International Rules Series as a replacement for Aidan O’Shea ahead of the second Test and played against Australia at Croke Park as Ireland won the Series. It was on April 6, 2014, at the age of 36, that he announced his retirement from inter-county football. On his retirement Doyle had scored 23-579 in 159 league and championship games. He didn’t miss a single championship game, playing 67 times in total. Last summer, he became a minor sensation on social media when footage appeared of him featuring for the Kildare juniors, drawing warm applause when he jogged in from the substitutes bench in the 34th minute wearing number 21 on his back, the whoops from the crowd featuring his return to intercounty duty.
For a player who came to rack up such numbers, he is a prime example of how a career can be defined by so much more than bare figures.
DURING the different stages of lockdown, he could be found spreading the football gospel in his role as Kildare Games Development Administrator. Helping to run a series of Turas coaching webinars, along with his old county teammate Tadhg Fennin, covering coaching and player pathways.
Doing an active online session aimed at juveniles with over 60 boys and girls logging on. That unmistakable passion for the game shining through, as ever.
Among the notable events of 1996 – the year he made his club championship debut – was the US Space Shuttle mission when the Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with six astronauts on board. Part of their brief was to perform two space walks during which they could test tools that would be used to assemble the International Space Station.
This weekend, NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully brought astronauts back from the International Space Station with the first ocean landing in 45 years.
Engineer and tech entrepreneur Musk is a self-confessed Hitchhiker’s fan. When he launched his Tesla Roadstar into orbit a couple of years ago, he had a copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in the glovebox, along with references to the book in the form of a towel and a sign on the dashboard that read ‘DON’T PANIC!’
Still looking for answers to the big questions.
Here is a player whose first championship game for Allenwood pre-dates Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. Player heat maps and GPS units for county teams. Bridges decades of space exploration.
And yet here he is, still trucking, still doing his thing. At 42. The answer to Gaelic football’s ultimate question about life, the universe and everything.