{"id":520716,"date":"2026-06-27T05:22:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T05:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/520716\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T05:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T05:22:20","slug":"ireland-grand-slam-winning-coach-philip-doyle-passes-away-aged-61","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/520716\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland Grand Slam winning coach Philip Doyle passes away aged 61"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Ireland women\u2019s rugby Head Coach Philip Doyle has passed away at the age of 61, his club Blackrock College RFC confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>Doyle is one of the biggest figures in the history of women\u2019s rugby in this country, coaching the national team over two spells. His first tenure was between 2003 and 2006, but he\u2019s better remembered for his second tenure from 2010<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Goose\u2019, as he was affectionately known, was the Head Coach for Ireland\u2019s first and so far only Women\u2019s Six Nations Grand Slam title, coming in 2013 with a side featuring legends like Niamh Briggs, Fiona Coughlan and Lynne Cantwell, to name a few.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/733113.jpg\" alt=\"ireland philip doyle\" class=\"wp-image-1785675\"  \/>Philip Doyle and Fiona Coghlan with the RBS Women\u2019s Six Nations Championship trophy. Pic: Brendan Moran \/ SPORTSFILE<\/p>\n<p>The next year, Doyle\u2019s team made history as the first Irish senior side to reach the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup. That tournament featured a <a href=\"https:\/\/extra.ie\/2024\/09\/29\/the-lineout\/ireland-black-ferns-inspo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">historic win over New Zealand<\/a>. He left that role after that World Cup run, later becoming Scotland women\u2019s Head Coach in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Goose stands alone as the most influential coach in the history of women\u2019s rugby, and Blackrock was deeply privileged to call him one of our own,\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blackrockcollegerfc.ie\/post\/philip-goose-doyle-rip\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Blackrock College RFC said in a statement<\/a> announcing his passing.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018He was a mentor, a friend, a storyteller, and a constant source of encouragement. He cared deeply about the people he coached. He gave players confidence, challenged them to be better, and reminded everyone around him why rugby is such a special game.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/513928.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1785674\"  \/>Philip Doyle. Pic: Stephen McCarthy \/ SPORTSFILE<\/p>\n<p>The statement continued: \u2018Few people have done more to advance the women\u2019s game in Ireland, and fewer still have done it with such charisma, warmth, humility and generosity of spirit.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We are all deeply saddened to hear of the passing of former Ireland Women\u2019s Head Coach Philip \u2018Goose\u2019 Doyle,\u2019 the IRFU said in their statement on X. \u2018Philip was a pioneering and transformative coach in the women\u2019s game in Ireland, most memorably guiding us to a famous Grand Slam in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Everyone at Irish Rugby is thinking of Philip\u2019s family and friends at this sad time.\u2019<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We are all deeply saddened to hear of the passing of former Ireland Women\u2019s Head Coach Philip \u2018Goose\u2019 Doyle. <\/p>\n<p>Philip was a pioneering and transformative coach in the women\u2019s game in Ireland, most memorably guiding us to a famous Grand Slam in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone at Irish Rugby is\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gsDDIT0Sk7\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/gsDDIT0Sk7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/IrishRugby\/status\/2070556970998784290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">June 26, 2026<\/a><br \/>\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Ireland women\u2019s rugby Head Coach Philip Doyle has passed away at the age of 61, his club&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-520716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}