MICHAEL Boyle understands more than most that a sporting journey can change course many times, and so can a person’s life.
When he was in his 20s, his grand plan was to play in goals for Donegal and to pursue a career in sports science.
But that plan has changed and morphed many times in the intervening years.
He has gone from being a soccer goalkeeper, to an ambitious county player, to being dropped from the county, to winning an All-Ireland and then coaching a team to provincial glory. Now in his mid-30s, he is working for a recruitment company called 3D based in Camden, and managing up and coming side North London Shamrocks as they try to take on the big teams in England. It is an intriguing journey which he has loved.
Boyle’s story is one of sacrifice for the greater good, and of how hard work always wins. At its core is the GAA, and how the GAA gave a player the confidence and the belief to succeed, but also the support structure to flourish.
But it is also the story of not accepting that your life has to be a certain way, and understanding that we have the freedom to change if you want to.
Boyle says: “Sometimes in Ireland you think you have to stick to one job, whatever you studied. There are loads of different opportunities out there.”
The job he had sought after college was in sports science. He played football for Donegal and for years played as the number two behind All-star Paul Durcan. He thought that that was going to be his journey. But things change.
He left Donegal for London believing that he could change and he did.
“The opportunities are unreal. When you are living in Ireland, you do a degree course, you do four years. Then you come out and think you have to specialise. You come over here and then if you think that the career that you chose isn’t for you then there are plenty of other options.
“People are looking for good solid people who can get along with people and have a good personality, and who are reliable. That is what they are looking for. It is great.”
Boyle is a solid person, a person with a good personality, a strong character that comes from having played football at the highest level in club, county and college. He has played under great managers, and learned how to succeed in life.
When he started out, Gaelic football was not his primary focus. Soccer was his first love when he was younger but as he grew older Gaelic became more important.
“Soccer was important in the early years because it introduced me to specific goalkeeper training. That was a good experience and I got to see how different soccer teams worked. I picked up a lot from management teams in Finn Harps, but the level of training and sports specific stuff that we might not have had in GAA in the early days, was important and I would have focused on that.”
It was in Termon where his GAA journey started.
“My club has been really influential. The managers I had really helped me. We were a bottom tier club in the Senior Championship and I just wanted to do really well. That is where I got my first bit of exposure as a young player. I was 16 when we got to the county final (Termon lost to Four Masters in 2003).
“That put me on the map in terms of exposure and getting me onto the county team. I owe a lot to the club, and the managers who put me out there.”
The performances for Termon caught the eye of county manager Brian McEniff in 2005 who called Boyle into the county team. In the early days he enjoyed the experience.
“Brian was a great man-manager and I had great time for him because he gave me great belief. Jim McGuinness had similar characteristics to him in that you’d go into a room and you would feel the energy. He was able to talk to everyone and control the room. Jim was able to do the same.
“When I look back it was great to be part of that.”
Boyle said his family were important in the early years.
“They were supportive. They drove me all over the place. They drove me to training and always supported me. The neighbours and the locals were important as well.
“I was just playing football for the love of it then. I never really had it in my head that I would go and play for Donegal. that materialised when I got a bit older.”
Boyle joined a Donegal team that had Brendan Devenney, Adrian Sweeney, Raymond Sweeney, Shane Carr, Michael Hegarty, Barry Monaghan as main stays. Then the likes of Kevin Cassidy, Rory Kavanagh, Neil McGee and Karl Lacey were coming into form. But it was the man in the goalkeeper position who would challenge Boyle the most.
“The big thing was getting game time. That was what you need. But that is the worst thing about being a goalkeeper, if you have got a goalkeeper like Paul Durcan playing in front of you you don’t get much game time. It is hard to get your foot in the door.
“I was behind Paul Durcan and I suppose I never fulfilled my potential. I was 17 when I played my first game for Donegal and I didn’t really kick on.”
At that time, Ulster football was dominated by Tyrone and Armagh.
It was against the latter side that Boyle got his championship start.
“My happiest time was playing for Donegal when I was 17. I remember playing for Donegal against Armagh and it was a really good Armagh team. We drew with them. That was a very special time for me. I was so young but it was great to be involved in a squad with top class players.
“I was playing in Clones in front of 30,000 on the Sunday, and then I was in doing a geography exam for the leaving Cert on a Monday. It was the most enjoyable time.”
Boyle says that Armagh and Tyrone took football to the next level in terms of their preparation.
“Our football was more off the cuff, while Tyrone or Armagh were a bit more systematic at that stage. Systems could swallow teams up, teams that didn’t have a tactical element.
“Everything was off the cuff back then. You had to go in and put your stamp on the game whatever way you could. The game is different now. It is at a different level in terms of tactics and styles of play. Most managers have a philosophy and they fit players into that.
“Some people argue that that is not a good thing, but that is the way that it has evolved.”
Brian McIver came in as Donegal manager after Brian McEnfif. The Ardboe man introduced a greater level of strength and conditioning. But he was also a voice from outside the county which Donegal had not heard in a while.
For a younger player like Boyle that was a good thing.
“The two Brians were very similar. They were good people and very approachable. The main difference was that a couple of years had passed and he (McIver) brought in strength and conditioning. He brought Ryan Porter who brought a high level of coaching. Things had changed. Armagh and Tyrone had set the bar. We had to get up to it. I learned a lot from both Brians.”
Donegal got to the league final with McIver, and he also led them to the All-Ireland quarter-final when Cork beat them by a point.
“I was young and I was keen to get into the squad. I played a number of games under Brian McIver. Big ‘Papa’ (Paul Durcan) was playing really well and it was hard to get in. But I trained really hard that year.”
Yet there was no animosity according to Boyle.
“Our relationship was good. Me and Paul were best mates. We had a healthy training environment and we trained really hard together. That helped him. We had a really good relationship.
“If I was playing in goals, which wasn’t very often, he would support me. Then I would support him if he was in goals.
“I think I played two seasons out of 10. He played the rest. But there was always support and respect there. We still talk. Paul has worked in the same job that I do.
“There was never any problems with us and we always wanted the best for Donegal. I think that was the key, that we have a real love for Donegal. There were no grudges and we just wanted to get the best out of each other.”
In that 2006 season Donegal reached the Ulster final and the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
“We had a real good run that year.
“I always remember the training that we did. We trained up at Letterkenny vocational schools. The training we did was top class. Physically we were really at it that year.”
It was an exciting run, though they did lose to Armagh in the Ulster final, 1-9 to 0-9.
“Paul McGrane scored a rocket into the top corner. I think he took about 12 steps, but it was an absolute rocket. We were missing some key players that day.”
After the Armagh game they moved on to play Cork in the All-Ireland series.
“We should have beat Cork that day. We were there or thereabouts. We missed some great chances. We had loads of chances but we didn’t execute. It was a whole new team. We were young and eager, I think that Brian got the best out of us for a year or two.”
The issue during the first few seasons of Boyle’s time with Donegal was primarily that he couldn’t usurp Paul Durcan as the first choice goalkeeper. At the same time, Donegal couldn’t get past Armagh or Tyrone.
There was an important lesson to be learned.
“I think the big change with that was that we would think about playing Armagh in the first game whereas when Jim came in we were thinking about winning Ulster Championships and All-Irelands.”
It’s a simple change to make but an important one. The lesson of thinking about the bigger picture is something that Boyle would employ later in his personal life when he made that decision to move to London.
In those years when Brian McIver was Donegal manager there were changes and improvements made to the team. Fitness and tactics improved, but the confidence was not there.
“I don’t think that we ever had the belief to go and win it. We were trying to get to the physical level. But I don’t think that we thought we could win it.
“If we had beat Armagh or Tyrone then we would have seen that as a successful year. We did the training but we didn’t have the mental strength that Armagh and Tyrone had.”
Brian McIver left at the end of the 2008 season.
“Everyone was really happy with Brian McIver and the level that he brought us to. Especially the younger members of the team. Everyone enjoyed playing under him.
“He left and that was that. That was a shock to everyone.”
John Joe Doherty came in from 2009 to 2010.
“John Joe was another good operator. He was a Donegal legend. He brought in a lot of past players into the backroom like Tommy Ryan and Tony Boyle. We had a great set up.
“We had an indifferent season. The levels were there. We were still lacking belief. The players weren’t in the right mindset more than anything. I don’t think we felt that we were at the top table.”
Yet in that 2009 season, Boyle managed to get some game time.
“The first season with John Joe I played. Paul got injured and I came in and played. We beat Derry, Clare and Galway. I played against Cork.
“Then I played in a few league games in the second year. But I would say that I got frustrated. I was playing with DCU in the Sigerson. I was playing well. I didn’t get selected for the championship. Maybe I did think that I should have been playing.”
Then in the second year Boyle made the decision that after five years of trying to make his place on the team he needed a break.
The Termon man had won a Sigerson title with DCU in 2010 (he would win his second in 2012), and had been part of the Donegal squad since 2005. Some players might have stayed and battled for their place. But Boyle’s attitude was that he wanted to see the world. He was partly thinking about what the future held for him, and he knew there were more adventures than just football.
He went to America mid way through John Joe Doherty’s second term as Donegal manager.
“I just thought that if I was not going to be playing then I should go to America. There was maybe a bit of frustration there of not playing but I wasn’t angry. I was maybe frustrated. And as all players think about going to America I thought I’d go to America in the summer.”
The trip was an important one in the wider scheme of Boyle’s life as it had a number of knock on effects. For a start it opened Boyle’s eyes to the opportunities that lay outside Ireland for those who understood the game of Gaelic football.
“America was the first time I really travelled away. I went to Boston. I had my eyes opened. I got to see what is out there.
“It is great to see the opportunities that are out there when you are living in cities. It was exciting for me. I thought about Boston a lot after I left. That’s sort of the reason why I ended up in London.
“I think it is great for everyone to do that and it is tough on county players who can’t.”
When Boyle went to America he was surprised to find that over there there was a lot of support for Gaels from Ireland.
“The support is nearly one of the best things about the GAA. You just meet so many different people.
“Even in my job now, I meet so many people through the GAA. It is just a great common ground with everyone. For any player who has come to London, people are very willing to help them out. It is important to know that.
“If people are coming over they can pick up the phone and reach out. I don’t think there is another organisation or community that is at the same level.”
However, the trip would also throw his future with Donegal into jeopardy.
Boyle returned from America in 2010 and Jim McGuinness had been put in place as manager of Donegal, after his successful tenure as u-21 manager.
The returning goalkeeper from America did not make the new squad after McGuinness held trials, a fact that perturbed Boyle.
“At the time I was annoyed that I didn’t get an opportunity. It probably gave me the kick up the ass that I needed.”
Boyle was playing his football with his club and with DCU. Playing Sigerson football at that stage of his career was important. He said that the level meant that he maintained a standard of football that would allow him to get back up to county level.
“They have high class facilities, and training. I was able to get myself up to a physical level.
“The experience of playing for DCU was great. We were in our 20s and had no commitments. We were full time athletes basically and DCU is great for getting players to find the balance. You had to work hard at your studies and you had to pass all your exams. You had the time then to go play football. It was a great lifestyle. It was the best time for us as footballers.”
Boyle would also pick up some important advice from one of the DCU coaches in Niall Moyna that he would go on to use with Gaoth Dobhair and in North London Shamrocks.
“Niall was very much an advocate of getting players ready in a short space of time. He was a really intelligent man and knew how to prepare players. The sessions in DCU were really short, they were low injury risk but high quality.
“That is one of the big lessons I took from him. When we were in college and busy he would be able to prepare a plan for us.”
That ‘professional’ experience was needed for Boyle to get back to the level of fitness he needed to make an impression on the new Donegal management.
“I came back from America and I wasn’t at the level that I should have been. Peter Boyle was playing for the Donegal u-21s. He had a really good season. Jim would have had him in the squad. Peter and Paul (Durcan) were the two goalkeepers. I was annoyed that I didn’t get an opportunity to get into the squad but it gave me a kick up the ass.”
The upshot was that Boyle worked very hard and tried to get himself back to a level of fitness where he could make the return to action. And the chance would come.
“I was playing for Termon against St Michael’s and I think he (McGuinness) saw me play and I got an opportunity to come into the squad. I think I played okay and he gave me a call the week after to come up to the squad. I was grateful to get that as it was something that I was craving.”
That experience taught Boyle another valuable lesson, that hard work and endeavour will be rewarded, and also that a person can change their fortunes.
“Sometimes when you have something and you lose it you don’t realise how much it meant to you. You just have to get stuck in again.”
At the start of 2011, Donegal were not the feared team as they are today. Their u-21s had won an Ulster title, but the county hadn’t won a senior Ulster title since 1992.
However, Boyle still was desperate to play for his county which shows just how important playing for Donegal was for him.
“I think having the opportunity to put on the jersey was massive. We never had the consistency but we were always able to put it up to teams.
“But we were coming to the stage where things had to come together or everyone was going to walk away. The age profile of the squad was very good. Everyone knew that it was time that things had to go right for us.
“Donegal football means a lot to everyone. It is the biggest sport in Donegal and everyone wants to play for the county. It is a football-mad county. Thankfully since Jim, football has been at a great level.”
Boyle said that when Jim came into the team the feeling was that things were going to change.
That manifested itself in the team putting aside any personal ambitions. And for Boyle, it meant not worrying about whether he was going to start or not, which had frustrated him before.
“We had a really close knit squad. There were very few egos on the team. Everyone knew this was our last chance. The years before people were calling for people’s heads. Everyone knew that it was time to produce or move on.
“We had to take an unselfish look at it. You just had to put your life on hold for the cause and give everything they had. Everyone wanted to train extremely hard and do everything they could for Donegal. We always had pride in the jersey but the big thing was that Jim always had a big affiliation with the people of Donegal.
“It was about us wanting to produce results for the people of Donegal and to make the people of Donegal proud. That really hit home for us. We were able to make a great connection.”
So it was self sacrifice that was central to the team’s success in 2011. Boyle would see that if a group of players put aside ego, and work hard for a common cause then great things could be achieved.
The key moment in 2011 for Boyle was the Tyrone game in the semi-final.
“They were the team to beat. They were the team that we spoke about the most. When we got over the line against Tyrone things opened up a bit. That really helped the development of the whole squad, it helped our mentality. When we got over them then we knew that we were able to take on the mantle and win the Ulster Championship. That was a huge, huge result. It all opened up from that.”
Donegal beat Derry in the Ulster final in a fairly one-sided contest which Jim McGuinness’s men controlled throughout. Then they went on to reach the All-Ireland semi-final where they played Dublin, and lost by 0-6 to 0-8.
“We went to Dublin and got beat by two points. Dublin were regarded as favourites. We felt that we had made ground. Everyone said it was a bad game. But it was great for us because we felt we were bridging the gap. We felt we were getting closer. It gave us great confidence for the next year.
“We were disappointed that we got beat. When you look at the game some of the free kicks were quite soft. We had chances for a goal. It was a massive thing for us to be competing at that level. We just couldn’t wait to get back the next year. We knew that we had a system that we could cling to.
“We really didn’t care what people said about the game. We were just worried about winning.”
While Boyle didn’t get much game time in 2011 he felt he had an important role to play.
“I think that I just pushed ‘Papa’ really hard. We trained really hard. He had some great performances that year.
“We were just dedicated to train as hard as we could for Donegal. We craved success. It came down to everyone going in one direction and it is hard to get that. If you don’t have that it is very hard. You can’t have anyone causing disruptions. Everyone has to think of the big picture.”
The big picture was All-Ireland success. In 2012 that came. Donegal beat Down in the Ulster final and then went on to defeat Mayo in the final.
Boyle saw very little game time in 2012, and while he enjoyed the season, he does not regard the 2012 campaign as a favourite one for him. Though he does recognise that he was part of in important milestone in Donegal GAA.
“I was happy enough, I was training hard. 2012 was not my biggest achievement in terms of playing. I wouldn’t feel it is my biggest achievement in coaching or playing. I really enjoyed the experience and I pushed to help the team.
“But it was great to be part of it. It was great to be part of the set up. We learned so much. It was a great life lesson. Nothing comes easy. You have to be prepared to work extremely hard to achieve anything. You make your own luck. when you work hard enough you will get the rewards. It is the same no matter what you do, in football or your job.”
Boyle took the lessons that he learned at Donegal and he has used them in his life and his career.
The experiences he got while playing for his county, and from Jim McGuinness were put to great use when he joined the Gaoth Dobhair management team, under Mervyn O’Donnell, in 2018 when they won the Donegal Championship and the Ulster Club title.
“That was my best memory. I got the most enjoyment out of that more than anything. I worked really hard on that and thankfully we got our reward. I was lucky to be involved with the team. They were a great side and a great bunch of players.”
Boyle had never imagined that he was going to coach Gaoth Dobhair.
After leaving the Donegal set up in 2015, he was looking about what he was going to do next. The plan was to move away, but that got put on hold when he got a call from an old friend.
“I roomed with Eamon McGee for many years and we had talked about football a lot. I was on the squad with him since 2005. We spent a lot of time together.
“I was thinking about moving away and then Eamon McGee approached me to come in with Gaoth Dobhair. The opportunity to work with Gaoth Dobhair was just too good to turn down. I knew the potential that they had, and the players they had.”
Boyle has a background in sports sciences. He also had a career of playing county football, so he knew what it took to win, and he also knew the techniques to get the results having watched some of the best managers inside and outside of Donegal.
He worked with Niall Moyna and Mickey Whelan at DCU as well as McEniff, McIver, Doherty and McGuinness in Donegal.
“I am no Jim McGuinness. I just pick up wee bits and pieces from every manager that I have experience with. I pick the best out and use them.”
Boyle was the football and strength and conditioning coach in the 2018 season with Gaoth Dobhair. Being part of a large management team was an interesting experience for him.
“It is great to have a manager and have different people specialising in different things. I think we had a huge management team, we had 12 different people involved. It takes that so that people can really focus on things and perfect it over the season. We had a great management team and buy-in from players, and Mervyn was a really good manager. He is one of the best man-managers that I came across. He was really able to help the players. He had the best interest of all the players in Gaoth Dobhair in his mind so that they could succeed.
“They ended up going the right direction so I stayed for the following season.
“I had only planned to be with them for a year but I stayed for an extra year.”
After he left Gaoth Dobhair then he began a new chapter in his life, and moved to London in November 2019.
His reasoning for moving to London was simply that it was a long-held ambition to do so every since he had made that trip to Boston in 2010.
“It was always in my mind towards the end of playing for Donegal, to move away. For a while I was thinking of going to America. Then I decided to go to London, purely for the fact I had a couple of friends.
“I did sport science in college and I really enjoyed that. But I just felt that I needed a change.
“I knew there was a good career path in recruitment. I knew the boss of 3D Damian Doherty from Letterkenny, he gave me the opportunity and it is a great job. There is great potential. That’s the main reason I moved to London.
“We have had boys coming over who got jobs straight away, and they had a couple of different options.
“When you live in Donegal, you know it is a beautiful part of the world. I loved living in Donegal.
“If there were more opportunities I probably would have stayed there.”
Boyle’s move to London highlights an issue that faces many communities in Ireland. That is that young people don’t feel that they can stay in Ireland because the opportunities to be successful are not there. Plus, they see that so many of their peers are enjoying life away from home.
“Four or five of my closest friends are living over here. There are more guys living over here than in Donegal.
“We live in north London, 10-15 minutes from each other.”
Boyle says that moving to London is an attractive option for young people because Ireland cannot provide the same opportunities.
“We have had five to 10 players who have come over and everyone has got a job. They are good jobs too. The construction industry are mad looking for Irish lads. It is a great opportunity for lads. The amount of jobs over here is unbelievable.
“I work with 3D. There are loads of companies approaching us looking for people. Especially people who are working in construction. If you have a construction degree then there are loads of opportunities.”
But the reason why so many young people can easily move away from Ireland is because they aren’t leaving the GAA behind. That is certainly the case in London.
“The club I am involved in is North London Shamrocks. We will try to recruit players and we will get them set up with apartments, we can get them settled in and make sure that they have got the right job. It is great for lads coming over. You can come over and the club and there are three big recruitment agencies.
“Players will come over and they will automatically have a network. The Shamrocks have been brilliant.”
The North London Shamrocks club have provided Boyle with a GAA outlet that satisfies his competitive urge, but also allows him to develop his management skills.
“North London Shamrocks are a mid tier club in terms of their championships won or performances over the last 10 years. They got to a couple of semi-finals in the last 10 years. Tír Chonaill Gaels, Fulham Irish and Kiernans are the bigger clubs. Everyone else is trying to catch up to that level.
“They are really well set up. They have a football pitch and changing facility at Tottenham Hall in Wood Green. But it is the community aspect of it, that is massive. Some people who move to London don’t have that, but we have that.
“I know the chairman Paddy Madigan really well. He is good friends with a couple of my mates.
“The GAA is massive over her. Once you get involved in a GAA club you are able to meet people and they can help you out.”
Yet he says that lifestyle in London is very different to the way it was at home.
“It is a big change from Donegal. Life goes very fast compared to Donegal. Monday to Friday you are working and you are training Tuesday and Thursday. Then you have a match at the weekend. I have been here for two years but it feels like two months.
“It has been a bit odd with Covid over the last two years. There have been no events. A few weeks ago we had a family fun day, it was a day to help everyone settle in. That was the first time I had met a lot of people that are involved. That was an important aspect, meeting people who have been with the club for years. It was good for the boys that had signed for them to meet everyone.”
The North London Shamrocks club is an outfit that have great ambition. Boyle can see potential for the club to be successful in the future.
“There is a massive push at underage level. They have 100 to 120 kids playing on Saturday morning. There are a lot of parents with Irish heritage and they are keen for their children to play GAA. We have four or five English born lads on the senior squad.”
The championship starts next week. Boyle, who is managing the team says that the team are hoping they can handle the challenges that Covid has brought.
“Our championship is starting next week and we are getting a feel for it, getting people out training. We are getting things on the road. The big challenge is getting people to training. People are working to six o’clock, and then they would have to travel 45 minutes to an hour to get to training. It is not like a local club.
“Thankfully we have made good few signings in the last few years.
“It has been a bit stop start this year. We played a few games last year and we didn’t get a feel for it.”
The likes of Tir Chonaill Gaels and Fulham Irish have shown that clubs can be strong in England, but it does feel like it is hard for the vast majority to raise their standards. That has been shown during the coronavirus pandemic.
“The first year of Covid we saw a massive amount of players move back to Ireland. But there has been a big influx of players back in the last six months. I think the standard will go back up.
“The potential is there. There are some really good clubs. The biggest challenge is getting people to training and get them to the best level possible.
“There is a high level of quality over here. The biggest difference is the physical side. The home teams have a lot more access to training.
“But the standard is very good. A lot of the top teams have county players from home, and there are some very good English-born players. The standard will improve because the work going in at underage level is massive. The future will bring more quality to London.
“The change will come from how many people move over. And a lot are moving over.”
So that is where Boyle has ended up. A career of county football in Donegal has now switched to management in England and trying to use his vast experience to help an up and coming north London club compete with the big boys in England.
He says the greatest experience of all is simply being involved in the association.
“I would never regret the time I had playing football. The experiences I had were massive. Especially with Donegal.
“I don’t think that there is anything as powerful for developing a network of people as the GAA. It has been brilliant.
“You miss the craic with the lads in terms of the Donegal team. It is a special time.
“I loved my time playing for Donegal, and I miss it. But that’s what the club football gives you now.”
What he also says is that footballers should enjoy their time but they must also balance that with their plans for the future.
“Football is the most important thing in life, but it doesn’t last long after your 30th birthday, especially now, the age profile has gone down. It is important that you look at your options. It is important to go and travel and see different cultures. It is great the support structures that are out there in the GAA community who are willing to help.”
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