Johnny Byrne - glory in both blue and red

To be loved by one club is all you’d ever want, but to be loved by two must make the heart sing. Although there is major crossover between those faithful to Allenwood and Coill Dubh, Johnny Byrne enjoys the praise of many when donning blue or red (or white).

A relentless performer, Byrne has been there through thick and thin with his clubs, and boy hasn’t the former been sumptuous at times.

The reflective nature of these features cast the readers' minds back to some of the best times their club ever had; that remains true for those of an Allenwood persuasion, but for them, it was only last year.

Allenwood lifted the Leinster Intermediate Championship after a dazzling win against Scoil Ui Chonaill in Parnell Park in undoubtedly their finest hour since Senior county glory in ‘04.

Johnny recalled, “The picture that sticks with me, and I have it at home, is when we are up lifting the trophy and the whole 45’ to 45’ is covered in Allenwood people. It was great and you could definitely hear them everytime we came up attacking or turned them over. The roar and the lift out of them was mighty.

“In 2004 my father was playing and that year was special for us because my brother played in the minor final beforehand and they won too. The father was playing the same day, so there is a picture at home of the two of them holding the two trophies, which is great.”

An outstanding occasion for a village that could make their case for being the most passionate in the county. Johnny Doyle roaming through midfield at the age of 45, an exuberant crop of young players and one of the area’s dual stars battling through injury to link defence and attack.

“I have been doing both since I can remember. It was always going up to Allenwood and Coill Dubh with the father when he was training. I’ve been involved in the underrage since the age of four and then I made the breakthrough onto the senior team at 16 or 17. That was a proud moment as a young lad after years of watching all the people ahead of you. It is an achievement for anyone to make their club team,” Johnny explained.

The county season never offered respite for Johnny, who has donned white with and without a hurl in his hand. After county final disappointment this year with Coill Dubh, the glorious Allenwood journey to follow would be the perfect remedy.

“We had fallen short on where we could have been the last four years. Noel (Mooney) and the lads with him put in a lot of work and I think we felt we had left the year behind us by finishing in quarter-finals the last three years,” Johnny said.

“The quarter-final was that Caragh game. That was the one, that was the moment that really defined our season because that kick put us into extra-time. We were very strong in extra-time last year in many games and that was the kick for us. We were gone from there as many people said.”

It may have been easy to claim in hindsight that Johnny Doyle’s stoppage time equaliser against Caragh ignited Allenwood’s season, but it is also so hard to say it didn’t. The grainy video clip of the outrageous score went viral across Irish social media platforms as Allenwood’s equaliser went national.

“The support that came out for us was just growing and growing. The small village that we are, you would pass through in 20 seconds in a car, but you would see flags everywhere and it was the talk of the village for weeks,” Johnny smiled.

However romantic we may be, these things don’t just happen and Johnny in part credits the full-time introduction of one man to Noel Mooney’s set-up that took Allenwood to the next level.

“Paul Divilly came in and he was exceptional. Allenwood people are greatly appreciative of the work he did because there was a brilliant structure that he put into us. There were basically four ways of looking at it. Fast Attack/Slow Attack and Fast Defence/Slow Defence. We stuck to that and Divilly was very good with us.”

The work put in by all concerned would of course culminate in a Leinster Intermediate Championship win as Allenwood ran out 4-12 to 3-5 winners over their Dublin opponents. Johnny now had his crowning moment in blue as Kildare united behind one of the feel-good stories of the year.

The win would of course come many years after he climbed the mountain in red and helped bring about the return of county glory for Coill Dubh in the mid-2010s.

“2014 was a big year. There were a few deaths in the club and we were all looking at the reign of Celbridge at that stage. They were the team to beat. Gerry Keegan was in form, Tony Murphy, Fiachra Ó Muíneacháin, all these lads were in their prime and we were a young up-and-coming team,” Johnny recalled.

“We lost two county finals to Celbridge in 2009 and 2010. I played in one with my father and brother and we were hurting after them.”

Celbridge had won four of the five previous county finals and were favourites again heading into 2014 final where they faced Coill Dubh

“Mark Grace was captain and he was a great leader. We were complete underdogs, but Conor Gordon did very well on Gerry Keegan and I think everyone for Coill Dubh was buzzing and flying on the field. Thank god, we did the job.”

A first Kildare Senior Hurling Championship for the club since 2003 and not the last in that period as Coill Dubh went back-to-back, beating Ardclough 0-15 to 1-10 in the 2015 final.

“It does mean something (defending your title). Coill Dubh had done it a few years ago with a treble and that was our target, to get us in line with that team. We fell short in 2016, where we probably thought it was our best chance to do it. We were five points up with five to go against Celbridge, but to be fair we had done it to them and then they did it to us,” Johnny said.

“Back then was a great time to win your first county title with your club. I had always been standing back looking at the great traditions of Coill Dubh. The village that had all these titles for the size of the area it was and to be able to add to that was a great achievement.”

Whether 2014 or 2023, whether Allenwood or Coill Dubh, Johnny Byrne added medals and trophies to a brilliant family legacy across a stellar career.

And one that continues in 2024 as he mends himself to get ready to attack both Kildare Senior Championships this year.