Regarded as one of the great stylist in the game of hurling, Jimmy Doyle was born in Thurles in 1939 in the shadow of Semple Stadium. Not a big man he excelled at a time when hurling was a much more physical game and survival depended on your ability to avoid your opponents if you couldn’t mix it with them. His ball control was superb and regardless of the speed at which the sliotar arrived to his hurley, he was capable of killing it dead. His delicacy of touch and ability to curve a ball, set him apart from other forwards. A versatile player he could play in the half- or full-forward line. He was named in the right corner position in the Hurling Team of the Century and left corner-forward in the Hurling Team of the Millennium.
While in secondary school he won a Harty Cup medal with Thurles CBS in 1956. Already he had come to the notice of the county selectors and was picked as goalkeeper on the Tipperary minor team, beaten in the 1954 All-Ireland. He played a further three years as a minor and won three All-Ireland medals.
He made his debut with the county seniors in 1957 and played with them until 1973, winning six All-Ireland medals in 1958, 1961, 1962 (as captain), 1964, 1965 (as captain) and 1971. During the same period he lost three finals, in 1960, 1967 and 1968. In all, therefore, he played in thirteen All-Irelands, winning nine. He won seven National League titles in 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1965 (as captain), and 1968. He also lost three finals in 1963, 1966 and 1971. Doyle retired after the 1973 championship. He had started his career in 1954 as a goalkeeper for the minors and he finished his intercounty hurling as a goalkeeper for the seniors, in the absence of Tipperary’s regular goalkeeper, Tadhg Murphy.
His tally of 18 goals and 176 points from 39 senior championship games sets him up as one of the top ten scorers of all-time. He was Tipperary’s top scorer until 2007, when his record was surpassed by Eoin Kelly. He won the Texaco Hurler of the Year award in 1965.
He won Railway Cup medals with Munster in 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1969 and 1970. He captained the side in 1963 and 1966. He was on the losing side in the 1962, 1964 and 1965 finals.
Jimmy Doyle played senior club hurling with Thurles Sarsfields between 1956 and 1975. His achievements at this level are equally impressive. He won county senior titles in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1975. He was on the losing side in the 1960, 1968 and 1970 finals. He won a county senior football medal with Thurles Crokes in 1961. Earlier in his career, he won four county minor hurling medals in 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957.
After his retirement Jimmy Doyle spent a couple of years managing the Laois senior hurling team.
