Kildare captain Doyle fit and raring to go ahead of championship opener against Laois

A year can make a big difference in football, and nobody appreciates that more than Kildare captain Eoin Doyle. The Naas man didn’t play as much as a minute of league football in 2016 as Kildare got out of Division 3 in his absence, but he managed to get fit in time to play in all four games of the Lilywhites’ championship campaign.

This year he has started all but one of Kildare’s competitive fixtures, finishing out every league game he appeared apart from the visit to Down when he came off in stoppage time with a slight injury. That gives him plenty of confidence heading into Sunday’s Leinster quarter-final with Laois, with the fitness garnered from a full campaign of league games firmly in the bank.

“[I’m feeling] good thank God,” smiled Doyle.

“I’m just managing things the best I can injury wise and that. In fairness the medical team have done a good job of it so far, I haven’t had to miss too much. Definitely an awful lot better than other years thank God and it’s just about keeping that going over the summer.”

Kildare go into this game as a Division 1 team in waiting coming up against a team demoted to Division 4 status, but it’s unlikely that such a gap will be evident between the teams on Sunday. Kildare are strong favourites to win out in Tullamore, and that comes with a certain degree of pressure, though Doyle says it is only the pressure he feels from within the camp that matters, and it’s all positive.

“Every year we go out to win every game, I know you’re probably sick of hearing it to be honest, but that is genuinely the case. Whether we were in Division 3 last or Division 2 this year, our goals for championship won’t change. The most pressure I feel is the pressure we put on ourselves to go out and perform and to give the best account of ourselves that we know we can. It’s not a negative pressure; it’s more of a positive pressure,” he explained.

The cliché that ‘you don’t know where you’re at until after the first game’ is often trotted out by managers and players at this time of year, but it rings through in many cases. Kildare had a positive challenge game against Kerry just over two weeks ago, but even a clash with one of the country’s leading teams is unlikely to provide the same intensity as a championship battle against near neighbours Laois.

They have already enjoyed one championship outing, and the advantage that gives them is not lost on Doyle.

“Straight away we’re at a disadvantage that they have a championship game under their belt, and you genuinely can’t underestimate how important that is,” said the Naas man.

“No matter who you’re playing or what type of environment there is, there’s always a step up. No matter how good or bad you play you feel it. They’ll have 70 minutes plus of that under their belts and we’ll be coming in cold to that degree, so it’s up to us to get up to the tempo of that as best we can.”

“We will be eight weeks between our league and championship games and an awful lot happens in that in terms of injuries and mentalities and everything, so our challenge is to make sure that we are able to bring the best bits of our performances from the league and to improve in the areas we need to improve in, and there is a lot of areas we need to improve. We’re under no illusions of that; we’re not patting ourselves on the back for getting promoted, so you’ve got to just keep working hard to make those improvements.”

Doyle was part of a defence that was more frugal than we have been accustomed to in Kildare over recent years during the league. They conceded just three goals in eight Division 2 games – the lowest outside the top tier – and they also had the best defence in their division. Despite the solid nature of their defensive displays, Doyle tends to look at the goals his side have let in rather than those that they prevented.

“Overall, compared to other years, we probably did defend quite well, but still with the ones we did concede, they’re the ones that stand out to me; the ones we conceded as opposed to the ones we were able to defend well and we’ve just got to work hard in those areas to make sure that come championship that they don’t happen again. Every team ups the stakes for championship and that’s obviously the key time of the year, so we’re expecting every team to throw whatever they have at us and we’ll try and throw everything we have at whatever team we meet,” he said.

One of the big stories surrounding the Kildare team before their championship opener is the return of Paddy Brophy from the AFL after two-and-a-half years in Australia. He is a player that Doyle knows well after previously lining out for the Lilywhites with the Celbridge man, and his return is a boost both on and off the pitch according to the Kildare captain.

“It’s obviously great to have Paddy back. He was part of our setup before he went and was a big part of it; he’s a great lad to have around, he has great ability and a great attitude so having him back will be a massive positive,” remarked Doyle.

“He’ll need time himself to get back into the swing of things. Off the field as well because he has been living in Australia for the last three years, so it’ll take his own bit of time to maybe get all of his off the pitch stuff kind of sort as well, but we’re definitely delighted to have him back as part of the setup.”

“Every integration of every player coming back has been different. I suppose the good thing for Paddy is that when Paul[Cribbin] came back he was kind of struggling with injury a small bit and that kind of hampered things with him, and Sean Hurley it was the same thing, but luckily Paddy is injury-free coming back, so that will stand to him and give him that kind of boost to integrate back in a bit quicker, please God anyway.”