WHEN THE REPUBLIC of Ireland were busy winning a two-legged play-off to qualify for the European Championships, Cork-born goalkeeper Colin Doyle never felt so far away from achieving his goal of featuring in another Irish squad.
While Martin O’Neill’s side were securing a place at last summer’s tournament in France at the expense of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Doyle was in the middle of a run of seven straight defeats with a Blackpool side who’d go on to be relegated to League Two at the end of the season.
That was in November 2015. However, fast forward 12 months to November 2016 and Doyle found himself back in the squad for the first time in seven years thanks to his performances for a team pushing for promotion to the Championship.
“When I went to Blackpool, obviously my ambition was to play regular first-team football,” explains Doyle, who signed for the Bloomfield Road club for the 2015-16 season after 14 years at Birmingham City, a club he joined after leaving Leeside at the age of 16.
“I got that opportunity there and my next step after that was wanting to get back into the Ireland squad. I thought I might have had the chance last year because I think they might have come and watched a few games at Blackpool, but it didn’t happen.
“This year with Bradford I believed we’d be challenging towards the top, which we are, and luckily for me it has happened. Hopefully I can stay in there now.”
Doyle made a good start to life at Bradford, keeping seven clean sheets as the Bantams began the season with a 15-game undefeated run to set the pace in League One. Nevertheless, the former Douglas Hall player was still overlooked as the likes of Ian Lawlor, Gary Rogers and Danny Rogers were all called up by Ireland manager Martin O’Neill.
At that point Doyle began to lose optimism — to the extent that his agent even sent a text message to the Irish management to remind them of his client’s existence. Shortly afterwards Ireland goalkeeping coach Seamus McDonagh turned up at Valley Parade to watch Doyle in action. A fortnight later he was named in the squad for last month’s World Cup qualifier against Austria in Vienna.
“I was, to be honest,” Doyle admits, when asked if he was beginning to give up on his hopes of ending his seven-year hiatus from the international set-up. “I remember speaking to the goalie coach here [at Bradford], saying ‘What do I have to do to get a chance?’
“We were undefeated, we were playing well and we were top of the table. I don’t know if it was a case that I’d been forgotten about, but my agent sent a text out just to remind them that I was there. Then Seamus came to watch me against Sheffield United and I was in the next squad.
“I’ve always had a look at the squads to see who’s in. I’m 31 now so I was definitely questioning whether I’d ever get a chance again. But with Shay [Given] retiring and Fordey [David Forde] concentrating on his club football, there was obviously an opportunity to get back in if I was doing things right.
“I knew I was going in as third keeper but I just had to try and impress in training and I’d like to think I did that. I knew I wasn’t going to play so the only place I could show the manager what I was capable of was on the training ground.
“No disrespect to the manager but I don’t think he would have seen me play. Seamus has, Roy Keane has because I’ve played against him a couple of times but that was a good few years back when he was manager at Sunderland. I had to show what I could do in those training days that I was there.
“It was great to be involved. It was just what I wanted from the start of the season and thankfully I’ve achieved it. It’ll be tough to stay in too. Obviously Darren [Randolph] and Westy [Keiren Westwood] are cemented and I think Rob Elliot is coming back from injury for Newcastle, so I’ll have to be playing well.”
Doyle admits that in an ideal world he would have left Birmingham a lot sooner than 2015. There were opportunities to do so too. He seldom put a foot wrong when given the opportunity and even started the 2007-08 Premier League season as the Blues’ first-choice goalkeeper.
However, he spent the vast majority of his time at St Andrew’s deputising for the likes of Maik Taylor, Joe Hart, Ben Foster, Jack Butland and Darren Randolph. After playing 60 times for Birmingham, he moved to Blackpool for last season. The results weren’t satisfactory but experiencing a full season as a number one for the first time in his career kept him in a positive frame of mind.
“In hindsight it probably is a regret that I didn’t move sooner,” Doyle says. “But with the circumstances at the time it just suited me to stay. A few times when other keepers moved on I thought I might get my chance. The kids were starting school as well so I didn’t want to uproot them again right away, and my youngest son was ill as well.
“It was hard but my youngest is doing well now and it got to the stage where I just needed to get out and play football. I probably wish I had moved a bit sooner because I’m enjoying myself so much now. Even last year, I know we got relegated but I just loved every minute of being able to play and it’s the same this year.
“I just can’t wait for Saturdays. If I was to give any advice to any young lad, just make sure you’re playing football. Don’t stick around and sit there and play a bit-part. Playing football is what it’s all about and I’m glad I’m doing it now.”
Having turned 30 by the time he finally became a regular starter at club level, it would be understandable for Doyle to lament the loss of so many years of his career. But seeing the likes of Shay Given still going at 40 has served as a reminder that — as long as his body doesn’t let him down — Doyle could still have a decade of football ahead of him.
“It is different for goalies,” he says. “It was [Bradford striker and fellow Corkman] Billy Clarke’s birthday recently and he was saying ‘I’m 30 next year, I’ll only be getting one-year deals from next year onwards’.
“As a keeper, you do still have the strain on your body but you’re not running around and then maybe losing a bit of pace like the outfield players. The keepers don’t really have to do that. It’s more about positioning.
“As a goalie, sometimes the older you get, the better you become. I’m just glad to be playing at the moment. I’ll keep doing what I’m doing and see where it takes me.”
The last 12 months have brought significant progress and Doyle hopes to continue moving in the right direction in 2017. This time next year he could be a Championship goalkeeper preparing to go to the World Cup, but there’s plenty of football to be played in the meantime which could scupper those aspirations.
“I’m not looking that far ahead at all, but I’d love to think that could happen,” said Doyle, whose only senior Ireland cap to date came in a 1-1 draw with Ecuador in a friendly at Giants Stadium in 2007.
“I’d be buzzing to get back into the Championship with Bradford and if we do I think it’ll help my chances of making the Ireland squad. With the way Ireland have started the qualifying group, it’s looking strong at the moment. We’ve obviously got to keep that going and get a result against Wales in March but I’m sure the manager would have taken this start.
“The same is the case at club level. Things can change very quickly in football but we’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing. If we do, that’ll hopefully leave me in a good position to achieve both of those things.”
