Growing up in Drogheda in the late '50s and early '60s, Frank Doyle was a dual performer of exceptional ability. So good was the would-be Smurfit Group executive that he wore the county shirt with distinction and enjoyed a notable club career in both his native Wee County and his adopted Dublin. As a former Newtown Blues clubman, Frank Doyle was delighted to hear of the Newfoundwell club's return to prominence in 2008. Trained by Eugene Judge, Louth's most successful club captured their first SFC title since 2001 and their third since the turn of the millennium. Tidings that bring a definite smile to Frank's face, though his GAA career in his native town was not confined to just the one club "I played with two clubs in Drogheda," reflects the affable senior executive of the Smurfit Group, a rare Louth breed in that he was more renowned for his hurling prowess than his footballing skills. "I started hurling with Wolfe Tones under the watchful eye of 'Fluther' Kelly. I then joined the Blues and played mostly underage with them. But my career in Drogheda was relatively short. I left town in 1964 and came to live in Dublin. I joined Whitehall Gaels for four or five years and then spent the rest of my career with Na Fianna in Glasnevin." Frank played minor hurling for Louth while he was a member of the Blues but he had transferred to Dublin by the time he wore the red jersey at U21 and senior levels. Unfortunately, due to a combination of travelling and studying (which culminated in a remarkably successful career within Smurfit), his intercounty GAA career was relatively short. He did make his mark on a number of fronts, however. He had the distinction of representing his county in both codes, for example. In football, he lined out against Offaly in the Leinster U21 championship and he also played one senior challenge match, which comes complete with an interesting story: "I remember playing an U21 hurling trial against Antrim in Ardee and there was a senior football challenge between Louth and Armagh in Navan on the same day. As I was one of the more established players with the U21 hurlers, I was taken off at half time. It turned out that a couple of the lads had been in an accident on their way to Navan and I was sent over and played in the half forward line for the footballers that day." Even though players were far from spoiled and had to make their own way to games, Frank recalls that era as one of "great days". He wouldn't change a thing and enjoyed the games thoroughly. There was no such thing as hype; you pulled on the shirt, played the game, and then forgot about it. It was really no big deal - so much so that virtually all players of Frank Doyle's vintage can barely remember the basic facts and figures from their careers - dates, honours won, games played, venues etc. There was no World Wide Web back then to post match reports, banter and endless shit-chat on. One of the unique distinctions that Frank can lay claim to is winning Dublin junior football championships with two different clubs. Bearing in mind that the JFC in the capital is notoriously difficult to win, with over a hundred clubs involved, those successes with Whitehall Gaels and Na Fianna were quite something. Remember also that Frank's preferred game was hurling "Hurling is my first love," he confirms. "My mother was from Galway and my father's background was in Kildare. He [Frank Snr.] had a tremendous love of hurling and he taught me how to play on the dunes of Bettystown. We used to take a house there during the summer and my father taught me and my twin brother Colm [who enjoyed a distinguished career in the Irish Army up to his retirement last year] the finer points of the game. There were five sons in the family and that was where we honed our skills." Frank was a member of the Laytown/Bettystown Golf Club for many years and this kept him tuned into what was going on in his native Louth, but his connections with the Wee County came to an end in the early 1990s, as the incessant travelling that goes hand in hand with his work commitments ate more and more into his free time. He retains a strong emotional attachment to the Blues and to CBS Drogheda, travelling to the town recently to join in the school's 150th anniversary celebrations. When he was at the Blues, Frank Doyle had the undoubted distinction of lining out alongside the likes of Muckle McKeown, Mal Judge, Danny Nugent, Liam Leech, Matt Murphy and Jimmy Gilroy. His brother Colm lined out for O'Raghallaighs, which led to plenty of friendly banter in the household. "I still watch out for the results and I'm invariably delighted when I see that the Blues have won something. It's great to hear that they're back to the top in Louth again. When you spend your formative years in a town, it's impossible to cut that attachment, so I'll always consider myself a Drogheda man, even though it's years since I lived there." Frank has been with Smurfit for 30 years and has been Group Director Sustainability since 2007. He works out of the group headquarters in Clonskeagh, Dublin and reports directly to the group CEO, Gary McGann. Corporate governance, environmental and social citizenship are three of the key areas he deals in. Smurfit remains a massive organisation, with a presence in 31 countries - 22 in Europe and nine in Latin America. The Smurfit Kappa Group has 365 operating facilities throughout the world and some 40,000 employees. Last year, the group recorded global sales in excess of seven billion euro. Frank joined Smurfit in 1979 and worked in various financial roles before becoming chief executive of the corrugated division in Ireland in 1995. Six years later, he went to Paris as Vice-President Sales & Marketing of the European Corrugated Division. Though based in Dublin, he will always have strong, irrepressible feelings for his native Wee County: "From a GAA perspective, I will always be a Louth man. For 17 years, I played my sport in Louth and, even though I finished my intercounty career at 22, those were my formative years and they were very special. I am honoured to have worn the Louth jersey and it's an honour that will stay with me forever." Tweet

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