BEFORE JOE FORTUNE was even appointed manager of the Westmeath hurlers, Tommy Doyle had his number saved in his phone so he could make sure to avoid his calls.
To understand why you need to rewind to the very start. Doyle emerged as part of a strong county minor team, toppled by Dublin in the Leinster semi-final. Mullingar came calling for a chance to repeat his Leaving Cert while focusing on hurling. Music to his ears.
“Hurling always kept me on the straight and narrow,” he laughs.
Cut from the same cloth as his father, also Tommy. That is where he inherited his capability and nickname, ‘Jogger.’ It stems from his time in school when he would race out of class early to go play hurling.
The one constant. The routine of Sunday games, the sound of the dressing room, the dash of maroon and white. For a decade he has been a powerful presence in the Westmeath rearguard. An effective combination of physical stature and power, of high fielding and defensive anticipation that ensures he is already a county great.
Doyle is also an American citizen and would be an ideal candidate for a stateside club, but the fear of missing out always keeps him home.
Eventually, he left school and started an environmental management course in DIT. It went south quickly and he dropped out, in spite of the persistence of the then hurling manager, Joe Fortune.
“I was getting these calls to go back and I wasn’t interested. I did eventually change course and spent four great years there.”
The highlight? “We got to the semi-final of the Fitz in my final year.”
Sometimes you find a home, sometimes a home finds you. What career suits a man with the small ball hardwired into his entity? He worked in a factory for a year, then did a business management degree and found a job in the communications department of the GPA.
His intentness wasn’t always healthy though. The game grew to become far more than a game. Westmeath are coming off the back of two remarkable seasons. In 2021 Doyle was awarded Joe McDonagh Cup Hurler of the Year. In 2022 they were promoted in the league and secured their spot in the Leinster Championship.
All the more enjoyable because he was able to dial it back.
“2018 and 2019 were serious struggles. I probably had to take a step back from it all regards everything. I had my head in everything in the county. I actually had to work hard to step back. I was captain in 2018. That was Michael Ryan’s final year and I struggled in the role.
“Just wasn’t ready for it and took it too seriously. Performance-wise it wasn’t my best year. I learned from there really.
“It was my final year of college and I wasn’t… I did not have my life balanced enough. Hurling was too much for me really. I found out afterwards that if you take a step back in life it is more enjoyable.
“I was getting too involved. Something would go on with some player and I felt like I had to be involved as captain but I quickly learned I can’t always be going out to help other people. Caring too much. When we took defeats, I wouldn’t talk to anyone for a week.”
With a grimace, he recalls how low he sank after the 2018 Joe McDonagh Cup loss to Carlow, his first day out in Croke Park. Team-mate Aaron Craig often teases him about it now. “I am starting to think I was very hard to deal with the way he goes on.”
There was no realistic expectation of success and he had little tolerance for failure. They meandered from that into Covid and the mindless hours pounding the roads took their toll. In the end, he was depleted. He had nothing.
When the call came to return to training he didn’t want to go back. Galway native and then selector Noel Larkin was an invaluable aid and gently coaxed him round. He began to draw on the life lessons from online workshops they endured during lockdown. Eyes suddenly opened to the bigger picture.
Would he change a thing? Probably not. That experience instilled an understanding that occupying extremes on either side rarely ends well.
Westmeath started their Leinster championship campaign with a spirited showing against Kilkenny. In the huddle after that game, Doyle stressed the need to dream of more while keeping their feet firmly on the ground. He saw the train coming down the tracks. They couldn’t let it derail them.
“I thought we put in a great performance but just knowing when we did that previously, the second one is always so hard,” he explains.
“That is what happened to us against Galway the next week. I kind of tried to say to the lads that next week was going to be as tough as ever. Especially the way they came at us. They put us to the sword early.”
Such trimmings in the past triggered season crashes. This time they kept building. One step at a time. Setting attainable goals.
“After 45 minutes we were still in it against Kilkenny. That showed us something.
“So, we broke it down simple. We got 45 minutes against Kilkenny. Let’s get 50 against Dublin. The week before we played against Wexford, we said get to 60 minutes and see where we are at.”
It ended in a well-earned draw before they finished with an 18-point win over Laois in the defacto relegation decider. As he reflects on it now, Doyle raves about the panel. Johnny Bermingham came in at corner-back and performed admirably. Eoin Keyes played during the league, dropped out and came back in to start against Laois and hit 2-1.
“Full credit to the boys for sticking it out. In the past, lads might have had one bad defeat and one foot out the door getting ready for the club.”
His affection for the group flows out of him. There was only one small request while agreeing to this interview. Could he mention Cormac Ryan, the former Dublin underage hurler and Westmeath goalkeeping coach? Ryan is currently cycling 6,000 kilometres solo across America to raise funds for Bodywhys, the national eating disorder association of Ireland.
For Doyle, it is back to Lough Lene Gaels for the rest of the year, dreaming of a top-three finish in 2023 while preparing for the possibility of another relegation fight. As always in the Lake County, the most important step is the next one.
After the game last weekend, he was asked in an interview if he was disappointed to be finished by May? It was later referenced during an RTE calendar debate that after all the recent goodwill, we now won’t see Westmeath return to inter-county action until January.
Despite the fact we saw little of them anyway. Does that matter for players?
“Can I just say on the split season thing,” he says initially.
“From our squad’s perspective, I haven’t heard anyone giving out about it. I actually get the opportunity to play a club challenge game now. We have a few lads going on holiday to Ibiza. They can enjoy their lives as an intercounty hurler and as human beings.
“The calendar this year was intense at times but if it is managed right, it works. Players want more games. We are training since December. Do they want us playing all year round? You need a balance.
“The split season gives us an opportunity to do that. I was asked Sunday, ‘are you disappointed you’re finished now?’ We won a Keogh Cup. We won our league, we stayed up. What more do you want? If we finished third and went into a quarter-final that would’ve been massive but we didn’t. We enjoyed our season.”
What of the paltry coverage? Two-minute highlights clips shot from a distance. In the 1980s Tommy Doyle Snr played in the Leinster championship and was afforded extensive highlights. In 2005 he watched club-mates Killian Cosgrave, Derek McNicholas and Martin Williams play in a Christy Ring final at Croke Park. That sowed a seed. He hopes the same is happening now.
“I actually played with them for one year when I was 17. Watching them, that was my inspiration. That game was televised. I was at it and saw the full thing on the Sunday Game. Lads you’d meet in the shop were on TV playing in Croke Park.
“When you are younger and a bit of an ego, it might have been annoying that you didn’t get it. It doesn’t matter to me now, but I hope it does inspire people in Westmeath, young lads coming through. It was a huge thing for me growing up seeing lads on TV.
“Christy Ring finals, my own club-mates playing in them. It was massive to us. I think TG4 do great things for games at that level, and I hope it gets people interested. It doesn’t matter to me really beyond that. All that I care about is the lads in the dressing room. The supporters, my friends, family and my club.”
