DOOLAN OUT TO PUNISH KILLIE
Rugby Park club moved too late for Kris, now a key man in Thistle’s bid for safety
IF Kris Doolan scores the goal which secures Partick Thistle’s Premiership status this afternoon, never let it be said that today’s opponents, Kilmarnock, could not have done anything about it.
Born and bred in Auchinleck, but a resident of Kilmarnock for the past seven years, the 29-year-old striker was on the books at Rugby Park as a kid, employed by the club as a community coach and then the subject of their advances in the same week he signed for the Jags in 2009. Perhaps some things are just not meant to be.
‘It could have worked out differently,’ Doolan told Sportsmail this week. ‘But I’ve been at Thistle a long time now and, hopefully, for longer to come. I’m happy here.
‘I remember I was here training. Jim Jefferies (then the Kilmarnock manager) had asked me to go there to train around the same time. But they never contacted me again, so I didn’t know if they still wanted me.
‘Thistle had already made an arrangement with me. I played a reserve game for them against Motherwell and Jim was watching.
‘Killie contacted me again but I’d already made my mind up. Ian McCall was the Thistle manager at the time and I was happy with what he had to say. I’ve never regretted the decision.
‘Thistle believed in me. Ian showed a lot of faith to bring me from Junior football and he made it clear he would give me a chance.’
Others in Doolan’s position might well have hedged their bets. To have traded the respective clubs off against each other in the hope of landing a few dollars more.
The only game the striker was interested in playing, however, was football.
Rejected by Kilmarnock at the age of 15, Doolan went about his business in the Ayrshire Juniors as a teenager with a point to prove.
Kello Rovers were the first club to benefit from his sharp eye for goal before he became a home-town hero for Auchinleck Talbot.
All along, though, his motivation was to prove himself worthy of a place in the senior game.
When Thistle offered him the chance to park his community coaching with Kilmarnock for a professional contract, there was precious little to negotiate.
‘I don’t know what I would have done if the opportunity with Thistle hadn’t arisen,’ added Doolan.
‘I just love football, so I imagine I’d have stayed in coaching as long as I could. But I always felt I could play at a really good level. All I needed was the right opportunity.’
As circuitous as his route into the professional game was, the striker feels much the better for it.
As he has often reflected, a first professional contract at Kilmarnock might well have led to him being stuck in the logjam. Instead, the often brutal world of the Ayrshire Juniors provided the most demanding but rewarding of apprenticeships.
‘It’s probably the best thing that happened to me,’ said Doolan. ‘I went from playing against boys of my own age to guys of 30.
‘You could easily come up through the youths at these pro clubs and never see the first team for a variety of reasons. I just went a different route, that’s all.
‘Kello Rovers were my first team. They gave me a chance. I knew if that happened, I would take it.
‘You toughen up. You learn a lot really quickly and that has helped me. Then I moved to Auchinleck Talbot.
‘It’s a big rivalry and it means the world to the people of Auchinleck and Cumnock. It can be fierce.
‘The players on the park know that. So you learn fast in these kind of games.
‘Even for young players now, I don’t see any harm in going out to these clubs. It opens your eyes quickly. It’s sink or swim.’
Doolan not only swam but excelled at his craft. However, even though seven years have now passed since Partick recognised his talents were deserving of a wider audience, part of his mind has never left those formative years.
They remain his touchstone — a permanent reminder of how different things used to be and could well have been. Nothing is ever taken for granted. ‘Everybody has to start somewhere,’ he continued. ‘There are players who come through the ranks at all the big clubs, then you never hear from them again.
‘You have to deal with all of the pressure that the game brings. It’s a lot to take on.
‘Sometimes I look back and think: “That was a really good grounding”.
‘If you get too much too young, then young players often don’t know how to deal with it.’
Who’s to argue with the benefits of the path Doolan has taken?
For a sixth successive season, he is already into double figures in the goal-scoring chart.
With his future at Firhill tied up until 2019, other records will surely
tumble. ‘I am quickly climbing the all-time goal-scoring ladder here, which is a big target for me,’ he explained.
‘I’m closing in on 100 goals. So all the time I feel as if I’m achieving things at Thsitle.
‘As a club, I feel as if we are progressing and I like being a part of that.’
Come full-time today, Doolan will climb quietly into his Kilmarnock abode and begin thinking about a midweek trip to Tannadice to face already-relegated Dundee United. His house may be in the North Ayrshire town, but his home is very much on the north side of Glasgow. ‘The Kilmarnock supporters are actually really good with me. I’m a local boy but they know that is my job,’ he said. ‘Securing our status is the be- all and end-all for me. For me to do well, I need to feel wanted. ‘If you feel comfortable at a club and just like the feel around the place, you play better. ‘If you don’t know whether you are coming or going, it can affect you on the park. ‘I know what I’m getting at Thistle and they know what they are getting from me. That helps me.
‘I look at the goals I’ve scored at the club and how many I’ve scored — and it makes me really pleased that I am here.
‘That’s massive for me as well. The Thistle supporters have been outstanding with me since I came here.
‘I’d no hesitation in committing my future to the club.
‘If you score goals, you attract interest. That’s part and parcel of football.
‘But, as I said before I signed my contract, it would take a hell of a lot to drag me away from here.’
lKRIS DOOLAN is Partick Thistle’s McCrea Financial Services Player of the Month for April.