‘Doc’ — the ultimate team player

THE ultimate team player.
That’s the first thing that pops into my head when I think about Jason Doherty as a Mayo footballer. He should be remembered for his selfless nature, the big displays he always seemed to deliver in the biggest games, and the way he cut in off the left wing from MacHale Park to Croke Park and slotted points with consummate ease.
They are just some of the things he did with remarkable regularity from 2011 until he picked up his first serious knee injury in 2019.
Of course, Jason also deserves huge credit and kudos for the way he recovered from two ACL injuries in the space of 14 months, and came back to play for Mayo.
That takes incredible mental and physical fortitude.
But, for me, it’s what he did in the first nine seasons of his Mayo career that should really be his legacy for all of us supporters.
And it’s why there has been such a genuine warmth and respect to the tributes I’ve seen from his old team-mates and so many Mayo supporters on social media in the last few days.
I think we all appreciated what he had done, and given, to the Mayo cause.
I don’t think any of us were really surprised to hear the news on Saturday evening that Jason had decided to retire from inter-county football.
He’s one of the players that all of us, as Mayo supporters, have really grown fond of over the last 10 or 12 years and have a huge amount of esteem for.
In Jason’s case, that respect has only grown after the way he fought back from two career-threatening knee injuries to play for Mayo at the highest level again in the last few years.
So when we think about Jason’s contribution to Mayo football, it’s impossible not to reflect on the resilience and toughness it took to come back from such gut-wrenching bad luck.
One ACL injury is bad enough, but to suffer two ACL injuries is a huge blow to anyone.
To have the mental and physical strength to come back from that, and to play football at the highest level, takes a special kind of person.
To be able to get back, at that stage in your career, and to have the hunger to compete at that level again, takes incredible levels of commitment, dedication and drive.
We can’t begin to imagine the amount of work that Jason had to do behind the scenes to put himself in a position to be picked again for Mayo.
It means you really have to look at his Mayo career in two parts; the ‘before’ his knee injuries and the ‘after’ the injuries, which involved different roles for him and some important cameos on occasion.
But the constant between both parts of Jason’s career was his selflessness; the team always came first. For years he played for 70 minutes, was a key part of game-plans drawn up by James Horan and Stephen Rochford, stood out when Mayo had the ball, and didn’t have the ball, and did whatever was asked of him.
Including kick frees, score goals, track runners, win breaks and link play.
In more recent times, like in Kerry earlier this summer, he played a completely different role for 35 minutes. But, again, he did everything that was asked of him.
It was in a much more understated way, which was understandable, but he carried out his instructions from Kevin McStay and his selflessness was obvious.
Jason was the perfect team-mate, and a dream for a manager to work with.
Whatever the job, big or small, he did it and got on with it. And when he was replaced, there was never any drama, fuss or histrionics. He was a total professional.
At his peak, Jason Doherty was a very important player for Mayo.
He was at his best at wing-forward, joining so many dots, but he also had the technical ability and football intelligence to take a score if the chance arose.
His reliability to take scores, and break-winning ability, along with his capacity to deliver the right pass, made him a hugely valuable asset for years.
He also had a great knack of scoring important goals, but retained that selflessness to make sure that the man in the best position always got the ball.
Jason started his Mayo career in the full-forwardline and was a great man to sniff out a goal.
The stats back that up; he scored 17-153 in 132 games for the county.
Jason was the ultimate multi-tasker; he was hugely versatile and did jobs to a high level as a half-back, half-forward and inside forward.
One of his many tasks was to be Cillian O’Connor’s understudy as a free-taker in make-or-break championship games, like All-Ireland semi-finals and finals.
That showed huge bravery, to put his hand up for that role, because it’s a thankless one!
I was coming to the end of my county career when Jason was starting out, and it’s no surprise to me that his career panned out the way it did.
Like so many others who started out around 2011, he went on to get better and better every year, because he was coachable, ambitious and driven.
The contributions that Jason made to Mayo football before his injuries are what he should be remembered for this week. He never shirked responsibility and could always be relied on to do the right things at the right times in any given game.
That’s a great player to have as a team-mate.
I wish Jason well in his retirement, and in the rest of his club career with Burrishoole.