Christmas Day in Allenwood. Or at least it feels like it with the joy and warmth in the air.
It's 11am at Schoil Mhuire and the school bell rings. The sky and navy blue flags that adorn the primary school and the village flutter proudly in the wind as the children tear around the playground, a little extra pep in their steps this morning.
Johnny Doyle pulls into the adjacent church car park smiling from ear to ear. His phone is hopping but all is good.
The day before, Allenwood were crowned Kildare intermediate football champions following a dramatic, one-point win over Castledermot in Netwatch Cullen Park to secure their first intermediate title since 1990.
In 2004, Doyle was part of the team that won the county senior title, spending the last two decades chasing a feeling like it again.
"I didn't know if the day would ever come back around," he says, as he prepares to join his team-mates by bringing the cup to the school.
The former All-Star and twice Championship top scorer was 36 when he finally hung up his Kildare jersey in 2014, having scored 23-579 in 159 league and championship games.
Remarkably he didn't miss one championship game for his county, playing 67 times, yet his longevity at club level is even more extraordinary.
Doyle made his debut for Allenwood in 1995 and didn't miss a single game for his club until the 2022 victory over Caragh.
It's Allenwood that always fuelled the fire, and continues to do so.
"It's just all about the club. Hard to put into words. I started with the club and I will end up playing with the club. My dad gave his life to it too, playing, treasurer, chairman. But at my age, just to be involved, not only playing, it’s incredible."
The player of the match award, weighing in with three points from midfield, was the icing on the cake.
Doyle reckons there are 10 teams that started out with genuine ambitions on winning the intermediate title, with Allenwood lucky to get by Caragh in the quarter-final.
Doyle had to put over a late free to bring that one to extra-time, and after seeing off Monasterevin in the semi-final, Castledermot were a tough nut to crack in the decider – victory only sealed in the 63rd minute when Jack O’Brien pointed the winner.
It marked Doyle's second county championship in an Allenwood jersey, having helped lead them to their only county senior title in 2004.
"You don't have to be a genius to figure out that I’m not into weights or anything, but I suppose I have always kept myself right," he said.
"Don’t get me wrong, I like a can of Coke and a Mars bar but whatever is in the genes, I’m naturally fit, I have been lucky with injures and I have probably got stronger with age, if anything I got wirier.
Four years ago he pulled on the Lilywhite shirt again, featuring for the Kildare juniors, but the joy in helping his friends and neighbours is something special.
"I’m playing midfield with Rory Moran. I played with his father years ago and these days I tell Rory – 'you just hang around midfield, I will do all the running’ and of course it’s the absolute opposite but I would never tell Rory that!
"It’s just a great feeling to be playing with those young lads. It’s a different generation but the slagging is brilliant, and I love that. I love going training and I love the game."
Watch the Dublin Hurling Championship final, Na Fianna v Ballyboden St Endas, on Sunday from 4.20pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player with updates from all games on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
