Doyle rules out Reading switch

It is less than nineteen days until the Republic of Ireland take to the field against Croatia and get their Euro 2012 adventure under way.

Yesterday, Extratime.ie were in Malahide to check in with former Cork City and St Patrick’s Athletic striker Kevin Doyle on how preparation for the tournament and this Saturday’s friendly (against Bosnia in the Aviva Stadium) are going.

With the excitement here in Ireland continuing to escalate, the Wolves striker Doyle was first asked how aware he was of this excitement in the build-up so far.

“Not until this week. Obviously I’ve been living in England, but I’ve gone home to Wexford for the last week.”

“I’ve seen it from nephews and nieces first of all, but you see the TV ads and the radio ads and everything is building up.  I see my parent’s pub and stuff with banners and things up. It’s all people want to talk about.”

“From not hearing a word about it in England for a while, to see all that gets you in the mood for it.”

Competition for places will be fierce, and no more so than for a starting role alongside Robbie Keane in Ireland’s attack. While Doyle is seen by many as the favourite to get the nod, one of his main rivals will be roommate and former clubmate Shane Long.

“I’m with Longy as always, nothing ever changes. For four / five years we’ve been rooming together.”

You would imagine that both will have enjoyed Reading’s recent promotion to the Premier Division in England. When asked about reports linking him back to the Madejski stadium, the Wexford man was quick to dismiss any potential move.

“No I think they’ve done brilliant to get promoted, and he’s done brilliant as a manager there.”

“[But] I wouldn’t like to ruin the memories that I have. I had four brilliant years there, and it was enjoyable enough for me and they don’t need me to go back there and ruin the success they have had.”

“I have honestly not thought about it, but I don’t think you should ever go back. Everyone says it’s never the same, not that I have had the option by the way. I’ve not spoken to Brian, just to wish him the best, but I think my four years was brilliant and I wouldn’t like to ruin that.”

“They have had brilliant success the last two years, and getting promoted this year. They have enough strikers and players. Not that they are trying to, but they don’t need me to do what they do. They’ll be fine and I’m sure they’ll do well next year.”

One of the main talking points when Signore Trapattoni named his 23 man squad was the inclusion of Sunderland winger James McClean. Doyle was in agreement that McClean’s inclusion was a welcome boost, but not just for the fans as he welcomes the Derryman into what has been a very settled squad.

“Ya he’s given the fans a great boost. It’s always nice to have someone fresh and different.”

“It has been a very settled squad for a number of years, very few changes. For fans to see someone new and exciting, someone who has done very well in the Premier League this season, it gives them a lot of excitement.”

“It gives us players a bit of excitement too. It’s always nice to see someone who I’ve not seen play too much come into the squad. It’s nice to train with someone new and see what they’re like.”

It has been a tough season for Doyle, in and out of the Wolves team before eventually being relegated. He might be forgiven for having a hangover from a season such as this, but Doyle sees the Euro 2012 championship in a different way.

“The opposite. It’s a release, you know. Training with different people, it’s great to have this at the end of a very tough season, to be able to finish on a high note hopefully. There’s four of us here from Wolves in the squad and we’ve all said the same thing.”

Doyle also sees the silver lining in not playing in as many games as he’d perhaps have liked.

“I feel like I would do at the start of a season, more so than at the end of a season.”

“Having not played as much as I normally would in the second half of the season, [for] both sides physically and mentally I’m probably not as drained as I otherwise would be.”

Finally the question was put to the Irish striker as to how he thought Ireland could fair in this summer’s tournament, and whether it was “madness” to consider going all the way.

“If you’re in it, you’ve a chance. I don’t think it’s madness. The manager has used the example plenty of times of Greece.”

“The toughest part I think really is getting out of our group, because it’s so difficult. You see the Spanish lads: the Barcelonas, the Real Madrids – all their players have had very hard seasons playing right up to the very end in the Champions League, and all the games they have had in their leagues, and getting to the cup finals and stuff.”

“They won’t be maybe as physically fresh and we have to take advantage on that side of things as well. You have to look at the positives and that is one positive.”

“They’re a top class team, and they’ve won the last competition, but they’re beatable as we have shown against Italy as well. We’ve done really well against Italy the last couple of seasons.”

"Italy won't [look forward to playing us] I'm sure, they've experienced it three times in the last few years, and last summer was a great result for us."

"They'll know what to expect, and our manager I think gets that little bit more excited when we play Italy than normal as well. He'll know them inside out and we'll be well prepared."

"They're good teams. Croatia, Spain, they're good teams. We're not stupid. I'm sure they're not thinking it's going to be anything but difficult against us as well."

As the countdown to Euro 2012 continues, stay tuned to Extratime.ie for more on Ireland’s build-up including coverage of this Saturday’s game against Bosnia in the Aviva Stadium.