Wolves star Kevin Doyle says Ireland trip may as well be Japan in his first pre-season interview

Jul 11 2010 by Bill Howell, Sunday Mercury

KEVIN Doyle flies to Ireland with Wolves next week but says it may as well be Tokyo for the good it will do in trying to meet up with his family.

Mick McCarthy’s side kick off their pre-season preparations with a friendly at Bohemians at Dalymount Park on Saturday.

That’s just four days after the Dublin side, currently second behind Shamrock Rovers at the top of the Airtricity League Premier Division, are involved in Champions League action against Welsh side TNS.

Doyle will be the central attraction in his homeland although the likes of Kevin Foley, Andy Keogh and ex-Bohemian Stephen Ward are set for a grand reception.

McCarthy is only too pleased to foster relations with the Emerald Isle after what he described as an ‘‘extremely successful’’ trip there with Wolves three years ago.

But star striker Doyle says the 90-mile hike up the east coast will make it nigh impossible for it to be a real ‘home coming’.

Speaking in his first media interview since returning to pre-season training, 26-year-old Doyle said: “I probably won’t see much of the family because we will be in Dublin, two hours from where I’m from.

“We might as well be in Japan!

“But playing in Dublin against Bohemians, I know the area very well from playing in Ireland for three or four seasons, so it will be nice to be in my own country training for a few days.

“But whether we are running over there, or running over here – it doesn’t make it any easier!”

Doyle and the rest of the Wolves squad have been working hard at Compton for the past fortnight since their early return from the beaches.

And the former Wexford youth can’t wait for the real action to begin with Stoke City first up at Molineux in a month’s time.