{"id":551216,"date":"2026-07-15T16:15:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T16:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/551216\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T16:15:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T16:15:24","slug":"inquest-into-death-of-former-irish-rugby-coach-philip-goose-doyle-opens-in-wales-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/551216\/","title":{"rendered":"Inquest into death of former Irish rugby coach Philip \u2018Goose\u2019 Doyle opens in Wales \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

An inquest has opened into the death of former Irish rugby<\/a> coach Philip Doyle (61), who was killed in a motorbike crash in Snowdonia, Wales, last month.<\/p>\n

Doyle, of Tara Hill, Gorey, Co Wexford, died from injuries sustained on June 25th at Beddgelert Road, Nant Gwynant.<\/p>\n

Opening the inquest, north west Wales senior coroner Kate Robertson said police were alerted by the ambulance service after a member of the public discovered Doyle.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, despite their efforts, he was confirmed as having passed away at the scene,\u201d the coroner said. \u201cI am required in law to open an inquest but adjourn to allow further investigations into the cause of the collision.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI take this opportunity to pass on my most sincere condolences to Mr Doyle\u2019s family and his friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police said officers responded to a report shortly after 11.30am of a single-vehicle collision involving a motorbike on the road between Nantmor and Nant Gwynant.<\/p>\n

Ulster Rugby<\/a> posted online following the tragedy: \u201cWe are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Philip \u2018Goose\u2019 Doyle.<\/p>\n

\u201cA hugely respected coach and advocate for the women\u2019s game, Philip led the Ireland women\u2019s team to a historic Grand Slam in 2013 and a Rugby World Cup<\/a> semi-final in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe also coached Ulster women in 2015 and 2016, leaving a lasting impact on players and everyone who had the privilege of working with him.\u201d <\/p>\n

Doyle took over as head coach of the Scotland women\u2019s team in April 2019 and kicked off his tenure with a first-ever series win in South Africa. <\/p>\n

Scotland captain Rachel Malcolm said: \u201cGoose truly was one of rugby\u2019s special characters. He brought something totally different to Scotland women, and he made such an impact on so many of our careers. <\/p>\n

\u201cI will forever be grateful to him for putting his faith in me as captain for the first time and I look back on our time working together very fondly.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, Blackrock College said Doyle \u201cstands 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\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis coaching and playing journey began and ended with Blackrock,\u201d it said. \u201cHe played on numerous teams within the club before turning his hand to coaching, where he gave so generously of his time, knowledge and passion, helping shape generations of players and leaving a legacy that will live in our club forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said he played \u201ca pioneering role\u201d in the establishment, development and success of women\u2019s rugby within the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a mentor, a friend, a storyteller, and a constant source of encouragement,\u201d it added. \u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An inquest has opened into the death of former Irish rugby coach Philip Doyle (61), who was killed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[56297,61,60,75784,112,31398],"class_list":["post-551216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-blackrock-college","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-scotland-rugby","tag-sports","tag-ulster-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551216","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=551216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}