![\"Ryan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0024b699-614.jpg\"\/)
\nRyan Murphy was a former Leinster Rugby youth player<\/p>\n
A 19-year-old former Leinster Rugby youth player has been sentenced to five years in prison for the manslaughter of Ryan Weir Gibbons after an earlier altercation over noise levels on a bus.<\/p>\n
Ryan Murphy, of Curragh Plains, Kildare, had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the 29-year-old on 26 October 2025.<\/p>\n
Mr Weir Gibbons died in hospital a few days after hitting his head on the ground after being punched by Murphy on the Dublin Road in Kildare after a night out.<\/p>\n
The family of Mr Weir Gibbons say they are heartbroken, saying words will never fully describe the pain of losing him.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the family said: “Every birthday, Christmas, family gathering and milestone will forever be overshadowed by his absence”.<\/p>\n
“He had the most infectious smile, was bubbly, full of life and had a way of lighting up every room he walked into \u2026 loved making people laugh.”<\/p>\n
\nRyan Murphy was a former Leinster Rugby youth player<\/p>\n
The family added: “Ryan Weir Gibbons will always be deeply loved, forever missed and never forgotten”.<\/p>\n
Murphy had been travelling home on a bus with friends after a night out and Mr Weir Gibbons asked them to be quieter.<\/p>\n
The court heard there was a verbal altercation between both men and Murphy had grabbed Mr Weir Gibbons hoodie causing the bus driver and other passengers to intervene.<\/p>\n
Mr Weir Gibbons got off at an earlier stop than Murphy, but made a comment to Murphy which, the judge said, seemed to aggravate him.<\/p>\n
Murphy got off the bus a short time later, and the judge said she felt Murphy was “up for a fight”.<\/p>\n
‘Spent his life helping’<\/p>\n
They encountered each other again at 3.07am and Det Sgt Dunne said there was a physical altercation in which a blow knocked Mr Weir Gibbons to the ground.<\/p>\n
Mr Weir Gibbons’ family said he will be remembered for how he lived, not for the violence that took his life.<\/p>\n
“Ryan did not spend his life hurting people. He spent his life helping them”.<\/p>\n
The family said that they have endure unimaginable grief “while also carrying the emotional burden of the criminal justice process.<\/p>\n
“One of the most traumatic experiences we have ever had to endure was being shown the recordings of Ryan’s assault and his final moments, captured on the mobile phone of a member of the group who was present”.<\/p>\n
\n
Sentencing Murphy, Judge Elma Duffy said she was aware the family of Ryan Weir Gibbons found it very distressing to see footage of the assault which was filmed on a mobile phone by a member of the group.<\/p>\n
But she said it showed clearly what happened that night and said she didn\u2019t believe the person who filmed it did so without realising what was about to happen.<\/p>\n
She said Murphy was very agitated and Mr Weir Gibbons could be seen trying to calm him down.<\/p>\n
Judge Duffy said after failing to calm him, Ryan Weir Gibbons swung a punch which didn\u2019t connect.<\/p>\n
Murphy then punched the 29-year-old causing him to fall to the ground and hit his head, an injury which caused his death.<\/p>\n
Judge Duffy said she was taking into account his early guilty plea, his genuine remorse, a letter of apology to the Ryan Weir Gibbons family and Murphy\u2019s young age.<\/p>\n
She also said it was not a simple case of a drunken row where a punch was thrown, in this instance Murphy had gone back looking for Mr Weir Gibbons.<\/p>\n
She sentenced him to five years in prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 19-year-old former Leinster Rugby youth player has been sentenced to five years in prison for the manslaughter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-554780","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\/554780","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=554780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}