12-08-2025
GAA club wish 'speedy recovery' to legend as retirement U-turn ends in injury
Kildare legend Johnny Doyle came out of retirement at the weekend to help his club's bid to avoid relegation from the senior ranks - but ended up in hospital.
The evergreen 47 year old, whose steady hand guided Allenwood to Kildare and Leinster intermediate titles in late 2023, hung up his boots at the end of last season after 30 years of adult football, having first lined out for the club all the way back in 1995.
But with Allenwood struggling this year and without a victory in their 11 league games, All Star forward Doyle answered an SOS and leapt to his club's aid.
Doyle returned for the Kildare SFC preliminary round encounter with Clogherinkoe.
However, he failed to appear for the second half after sustaining what appeared to be a serious shoulder injury which required hospital treatment.
Allenwood lost the game by a point, 3-11 to 1-16, after being 13 points down at half-time in a match where a win would have secured their senior status.
Doyle was part of the last Kildare side to win a Leinster SFC, back in 2000 and won an All Star in 2014, before announcing his inter-county retirement in 2014.
He also holds a Kildare Senior Championship medal from 2004.
Allenwood now enter the losers section of the group stages with relegation from senior football still a possibility, and Doyle unlikely to appear again this year.
The club posted on 'X' to say: 'A speedy recovery to the great JD! Always there to answer the call when his club needs him.'
