Notts County 3-1 Dagenham & Redbridge: Michael Doyle goes in goal with Magpies down to 10-men

Michael Doyle played GAA as a kid, before switching to football

Veteran Notts County midfielder Michael Doyle says his Gaelic football background helped him cope with 72 minutes in goal during the 3-1 National League win over Dagenham & Redbridge.

With the Magpies without a substitute keeper, their 39-year-old captain was handed the gloves after Sam Slocombe was dismissed for a challenge on Darren McQueen.

Paul McCallum hit the post with the resulting penalty, allowing Notts to build on Kyle Wootton's 10th-minute opener as Ruben Rodrigues and Wootton both found the net with stunning strikes for a 3-0 half-time lead.

Doyle did not concede until Matt Robinson finally beat him in added time for a Daggers consolation.

"The gaffer [Neal Ardley] and Greg [Abbott, assistant manager] were having a bit of a laugh, saying they might have to put me in there if it comes to injuries," Doyle told BBC Radio Nottingham.

"I played a lot of Gaelic football when I was a kid, at our local GAA club at St Marks in Tallaght, and I loved it, so thank goodness all those years of playing helped me with catching the ball and all that.

"The lads in front of me were amazing tonight, it was a joy to watch them. All the credit goes to them."

'I thought of Grobbelaar in 1984'

Bruce Grobbelaar helped Liverpool win a European Cup final penalty shoot out against Roma with a 'jelly-legged' routine on his line in order to unnerve the Italian club's players with their spot-kicks

Doyle made saves to deny McQueen, Dean Rance and George Saunders during the match, as the fifth-placed Magpies kept the gap to Hartlepool in second at three points.

With Notts at home, the veteran Dubliner - at a little over 5ft 8ins one of the smaller members of the squad - was able to borrow goalkeeper Luke Pilling's kit.

Having got the kit on, his first task was to face McCallum's penalty, and Doyle said he drew inspiration from a European Cup-winning goalkeeping legend to unnerve the Daggers man in the process.

"When Sam got sent off, I didn't realise we didn't have a sub keeper," he added.

"I had to wear Luke's gloves as Sam's hands are massive, and once I kitted up I thought I'd have a bit of a 'doss'. I thought of Bruce Grobbelaar for Liverpool in Rome 1984 to try to put him off.

"I asked the goalkeeping coach Jake [Kean] where McCallum usually went and just followed it. So when I dived and saw it hit the post I jumped up like a little fly."