TWO years ago, Paddy Doyle decided to take a punt on his son, Kevin, the unknown Cork City winger. Doyle Sr placed €100 on him at 150-1 to play a competitive match for Ireland. It was considered an outrageous bet.
Today is payday — all €15,000 (about £10,100) — when Doyle Jr, the Reading forward, trots out in the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium here. As Ireland face Germany in the opening group D match of their 2008 European Championship qualifying campaign, it is confirmation of Doyle’s rapid progress from football’s backwaters.
“I’m sure Dad will be pretty happy when he sees me out on the pitch,” Doyle, who joined Reading last year, said. “I thought the odds should have been more like 200-1, but you always believe that, with a bit of luck, you can move on.”
Doyle, 22, will lead the Ireland attack with Robbie Keane, the captain. It is at the back, though, where they will have to be at their sharpest, with Germany, the third-placed finishers in the World Cup finals, fielding Miroslav Klose, the leading scorer in the tournament, and Lukas Podolski, the rising star of the Bundesliga.
“We have to be brave mentally and physically,” Steve Staunton, the Ireland manager, said. It is the first competitive match for Staunton — he has one win and two defeats in friendlies since taking over — as it is for Joachim Loew, the new Germany coach, who replaced Jürgen Klinsmann.
Advertisement
Jens Lehmann, the Arsenal goalkeeper, has urged caution from Germany. “Every player in the Ireland squad is a good professional,” he said. “This will be anything but easy.”
HOW THEY LINE UP
GERMANY (probable; 4-4-2): J Lehmann (Arsenal) — P Lahm (Bayern Munich), A Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), M Friedrich (Mainz), M Jansen (Borussia Mönchengladbach) — B Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen), T Frings (Werder Bremen), M Ballack
(Chelsea), B Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich) — M Klose (Werder Bremen), L Podolski (Bayern Munich).
IRELAND (probable; 4-4-2): S Given (Newcastle United) — S Carr (Newcastle United), R Dunne (Manchester City), Andy O’Brien (Portsmouth), K Kilbane (Wigan Athletic) — S Finnan (Liverpool), J O’Shea (Manchester United), S Reid (Blackburn Rovers), D Duff
(Newcastle United) — R Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), K Doyle (Reading).
Referee: L M Canteleja (Spain).
TELEVISION: Live, BBC Three, 7.30pm.