Andy Boyle Interview

ANDY BOYLE ONE-ON-ONE WITH...

Andy Boyle was a raw 21-year-old when Stephen Kenny signed him from Shelbourne ahead of the 2013 campaign. Seven years on, with four league titles, a spell in the UK and a Republic of Ireland cap to his name, the Lilywhites centre-back sat down with Dundalk FC Magazine’s Gavin McLaughlin to talk squad rotation, his return to peak fitness and the season ahead.

Boyle and Gartland? Gartland and Hoare? Cleary and Gartland? Hoare and Boyle? Cleary and Boyle? Cleary and Hoare? If you asked 100 Dundalk fans to pick their number one defensive partnership, you could easily get 100 different answers.

For decades, it was stressed that a successful football team was built on a tried and trusted centre-back partnership but Dundalk’s 2019 campaign defied logic with Sean Hoare (28 league appearances), Daniel Cleary (23), Brian Gartland (22) and Andy Boyle (8) all rotated on a nearweekly basis. Disruption was minimal with Dundalk conceding just 18 goals in 36 matches.

“We have real competition in that centre-back area and it’s hard to know who is the best,” said Vinny Perth last October. “We rotate because we don’t believe there is a ‘first-team’ in the squad. We weren’t able to do

it over the years and it’s not just a case of me being a tinker man. It’s because of the quality we have in the group.”

Squad rotation is something of a new phenomenon for Boyle. The Dubliner was a key figure in the Dundalk side that won three league titles on the spin between 2014 and 2016 with his performances earning him a place on the PFAI Premier Division Team of the Year in each of those campaigns.

Incredibly, Boyle missed just three league games in that spell and his partnership with Gartland will be remembered in these parts as one of the best of all time. In hindsight, it was no surprise that Dundalk struggled to readjust when he departed for Preston North End at the end of the European odyssey in 2016.

Things were a little bit different when he returned from the UK last summer. Instead of slotting back in alongside his old partner, the 28-year-old found himself

ONE-ON-ONE WITH... ANDY BOYLE

Andy Boyle, left, and former Dundalk teammate Daryl Horgan on press duty for the Republic of Ireland in 2016

in a four-man tussle with the club captain and two of the brightest centre-backs the league has produced in some time. Instead of sulking, however, the former UCD and Shelbourne star has embraced the challenge.

“It’s just the way football is these days,” Boyle told the Dundalk FC Magazine. “Every big club in the world has a massive squad nowadays. It is a little bit different to my first spell at the club when I’d play every week but there are four quality central defenders here and that’s just the way it is. “There’s real, proper competition for places, not just in defence but in every position throughout the squad, and It must be a real headache for the manager trying to pick the team and decide who to leave out each week.” One of the only positives of the dysfunctional League of Ireland fixture schedule is that it allows players to get back on the horse quickly.

This week is a good case in point with tonight’s game coming just 72 hours after Dundalk played Shelbourne at Tolka Park. It would be no surprise if all four players were rotated across the two matches.

“The fixture list is something we can talk about another day but there are so many games coming up that if you aren’t playing in one, you know that there’s another one just coming around the corner and that’s a good thing,” said Boyle.

“I know it’s an old cliche but you just have to be ready to go when you’re called upon,” he added. “It’s important to try and do yourself justice and

to make sure you do enough to stay in the team but even then the team can sometimes be picked for the second game so it doesn’t matter what you do!” he smiled.

The 2020 campaign is an important one for Boyle. After deciding to come home, he featured in all six of Dundalk’s European games last summer but the wear and tear of playing for 18 months on the trot meant he struggled to reach peak fitness.

“It’s tough when you come back here in the summer after a full season in England or Scotland because mentally your mind is thinking about a break and physically you do need a break,” he said.

“I was able to go away to Dubai for a few days before I came back to Dundalk and I had a personal trainer out there with me every day. That

REUNITED! Brian Gartland and Andy Boyle, pictured before last July’s game with Derry City

meant I was ready to play in Europe and I was thrown straight in at half-time against Riga when Shields went off with that facial injury.

“I started both games against Qarabag and Slovan Bratislava but after playing right through for almost a year-and-a-half I started to pick up little niggles so it was important that I had a rest, both mentally and physically, at the end of the season,” he said.

Now, after recharging the batteries over the winter and with a full, uninterrupted preseason behind him, Boyle is hoping to recapture the form that won him an international cap against Iceland back in March 2017.

“I took a couple of weeks off and went on holiday but when I got back before Christmas I was flat out,” he said. “The strength and conditioning coach and the physios gave me a lot of stuff to do and I worked hard on it. Pre-season went well and I’m feeling good.”

Boyle and Cleary were

selected against Derry City on the opening night of the season but only Vinny Perth knows who will start against Neale Fenn’s side this evening. One way or the other, Boyle is happy to roll with it.

“It’s disappointing if you don’t play but you have to remember that the fixtures are going to come thick and fast and like this week, we had a game Friday and again tonight. You just have to put your disappointment behind you for the greater good of the club.”