Liam Doyle: Rolling with the punches

THE GOOD TIMES…Despite his injury hell, Liam Doyle achieved so much

IT WAS in the Royal Hospital in Belfast back in 2008 when Liam Doyle’s injury hell reached its nadir.

Lying in the hospital bed, he looked down at his legs and surveyed the damage.

His left knee was still recovering from a cruciate injury picked up in the Ulster Championship loss to Armagh when he developed septicemia in the same joint.
Glancing right, he’d look at a knee that was suffering badly from tendonitis.

Doyle watched the muscle definition disappear in his legs as he lay up day after day waiting for the infection to clear.

At 27 years of age, he knew that he was facing into an arduous recovery period.

If he was just a few years older, he knows that there may not have even been time for that battle – one that would take all of two years to win.

“The cruciate would have been the most serious in terms of the longest period of time out of the game,” said the Liatroim Fontenoys clubman.

“I had the cruciate injury and in rehab I picked up septicemia in the knee, blood poisoning, and that set it back as I had to spend a few weeks in the Royal.

“There was no long-term impact and eventually it did get right. I had tendonitis in the other knee and I would say that held me back further rather than the cruciate itself.

“It wasn’t easy sitting there in the hospital. Because I was sitting there for such a long period, I could see the muscles in my leg wasting away because I hadn’t been using them much because of the operation.

“Things have moved on now, but back then you would have played on half fit.
If you were half fit you were fit to play and that wouldn’t have helped with the tendonitis in the other knee.

“Looking back now maybe it wasn’t the wisest thing, but I wouldn’t have been one to shy away. I would have put my hand up and said I was good to go. I’ve probably paid the price for that.

“I was only 27 when I was in hospital and I felt I had a few more years in me. If I had been in the 30s or whatever I maybe would have been advised to knock it on the head after that cruciate though.”

Doyle soldiered on and his county career only officially ended two years ago, but it was a journey riddled with frustration.

The decade and a half in the red and black was cruelly and repeatedly interrupted by every knock, niggle and twinge in the book. Fleeting glimpses of one of the county’s most talented players were all Down fans were treated to.

“A potential giant in the last 20 years of Ulster football,” was how one former coach described him when the background was being carried out for this article.

“He had the talent to be another Philly Jordan, or probably better,” was the view of a former teammate.

The ability to control the game at the highest level, explosive power, a top skillset and the sweetest of left foots ensured that he had ability to rise to the highest level of the game, but his body wouldn’t allow it.

This story isn’t just about pity though. Doyle has experienced enough ecstasy to more than make up for the months and years on the treatment table. Ask him did he enjoy his football career and it’s a hard yes.

Between 1998 and 2003 he completed a set of successes that few in the game have ever achieved – club, college, school, university and province.

His honours in that time included captaining Down to the 1999 All-Ireland minor title, starring as St Colman’s won both the MacRory and Hogan titles in 1998, winning a Down and Ulster Intermediate title with his club in 1998, winning Player of the Tournament as Jordanstown captured the Sigerson Cup in 2001, helping Ulster to the 2003 Railway Cup title while he also was inspirational as the Fontenoys reached the 2000 senior final only to lose out to Clonduff.

That ’99 All-Ireland success was particularly sweet for the Doyle clan. In 1968 his father Willy had climbed the Hogan steps to raise the Sam Maguire, and now he was following in his footsteps to life the Tom Markham, all the more memorable as he was captain.

There was something special about that minor side, a versatility and composure that belied their young years.

A 16-year-old Benny Coulter was causing havoc while the finesse of Mickey Walsh stood out a mile. Ronan Murtagh, John Clarke, Brendan Kearney, Louis Sloan – just some of the other players that shaped a team laced with grit and skill.

They needed replays against both Donegal in the Ulster final and a Dublin side, containing Stephen Cluxton and Alan Brogan, in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Mayo had entered the final as favourites after a highly-impressive dismissal of Cork, but Coulter’s catch, shimmy and finish in front of the Canal End secured a 1-14 to 0-14 win for Gerry Dougherty’s side.

“I think we were very lucky to get through those games,” Doyle said of the Donegal and Dublin replays. “When games are that close you need that wee bit of luck.

“My memory of the final is sketchy, it was a bit of a blur. I looked at it as having a job to do like any other game.
“Mayo were a quality side and we played very well on the day and thankfully it worked out.

“There were so many players on that team that could have been captain, so it was a real honour for me.

“There were leaders throughout that team and that showed in the big games that year.”

Those obvious qualities led to Doyle and a number of his teammates being drafted straight into Pete McGrath’s senior side for the 2000 season, a manager he had worked with during St Colman’s triumphs in 1998.

The reunion would prove to be less successful. Doyle’s Championship debut came against Antrim in 2000, a match the Saffrons memorably won by three points. Down would lose their next four Championship games too, resulting in McGrath’s resignation after their loss to Longford in June 2002.

“At that stage Down was sort of in a bit of a transition,” said the 35-year-old. “A lot of the players from the 90s’ teams had stepped away.

“The following year there was quite a number of us pulled into the senior set-up. Maybe the balance wasn’t right in the team; maybe too many came through at the one time, I don’t know.

“There were still plenty of established players there, we were coming in to try and update the thing, I suppose.

“Maybe there was an expectation within in the county that our minor success could have built onto u-21 success and then onto senior success.

“We had plenty of battles with Tyrone at u-21 level and they went on to win numerous All-Ireland’s at u-21 and senior.

“There was always only a kick of the ball between us but unfortunately they built from that success whereas we just couldn’t get that momentum.

“I think that was key. On our day we were capable of putting it up to any team but just doing that consistently at that level proved too difficult.”

With no school or minor football anymore, the Sigerson was proving a nice distraction from the problems Down were facing at the time.

His first year as a fresher proved a difficult one, but in 2001 he was Player of the Tournament as Jordanstown left Monaghan with the title following a 1-14 to 1-9 victory over UCD – a tournament played in unusual circumstances.

“The first year I was coming in as a fresher,” he said.

“We won the Ryan Cup and played the Sigerson Cup down in Galway.

“I think there were 20-odd county players on the panel, first-team players with their counties.

“There was some batch of players there but maybe the blend wasn’t right and we were put out in the first game of that Sigerson.

“The second year was around the time of the foot and mouth outbreak so it was the first time the Sigerson wasn’t played over the one weekend.

“We were due to go to Sligo and it was called off then I think the second outbreak was the day before the final, which was played in Scotstown because of the foot and mouth.

“There was a fair bit of travelling that year, we were down in Cork and places like that, but that maybe helped us. It was a great time to be involved with the team.”

Injury would rule out Doyle’s involvement in the university’s defence the following year, but in 2003 he would experience his first-ever Senior Championship win in county colours, and an Ulster success came excruciatingly close.

Paddy O’Rourke was in charge by that stage and he had opted to play Doyle in the half-forward line and his free-taking was a crucial asset in the wins over Monaghan and Fermanagh.

The Mournemen were huge underdogs heading into the Ulster final against Tyrone, but with Doyle contributing a brilliant 1-3, they raced into a nine-point lead and looked good for the county’s first Anglo Celt victory since 1994.

They couldn’t hang on though and a replay was needed. The psychological battle had been emphatically lost when they gave up that advantage and they were blitzed in the second game. Just like at u-21 level, the Red Hands had found a way.

There would be no quick return to the final to make amends. Indeed, the county would reach an All-Ireland final before they’d head back up the hill towards St Tiernach’s Park for a provincial final.

The cruciate injury and the complicated recovery meant that Doyle could only watch on as a supporter as Down pushed the Rebels to the pin of their collars in 2010, but when James McCartan named his Dr McKenna Cup squad for the following year his name was there.

The player with the wizard left foot would only get to play in fits and starts though as knees and quads played up with almost cruel timing.

That jinx struck again in 2012. After a brilliant start to the League, James McCartan had found his dynamo for the no. 6 jersey.

His former teammate had planned to build his side around him, but a quad injury for Doyle would disrupt those plans.

The county did reach that year’s Ulster final, but Doyle was deployed around the half-forward line rather than in the heart of the defence.

Even if everything had went to plan, it’s unlikely that Doyle alone could have compensated for Donegal’s brilliance that day, but he certainly would have made them a stronger proposition.

His final act in the red and black would come in the 2014 Qualifier win against Leitrim in Newry. It would be the last time Doyle would take to the field for an inter-county game.

Fourteen years had separated his debut from his final game. It was playing rather than performing that was always his biggest obstacle, but when he did take to the field, he always raised the quality of the side.

Now it’s the Fontenoys that have exclusive use of his ridiculous talent. An intermediate quarter-final loss to Darragh Cross at the weekend was disappointing, but the team can’t feel sorry for themselves as their Division Two status is yet to be secured. Doyle is hoping he can play his part in that final push.

“I’m feeling good and I’m still enjoying playing,” he said.

“I can’t play and train all the time but I’m hoping there’s a bit of football in me yet.

There are few who would deserve a bit of game time more.
n.mccoy@gaeliclife.com