Fay Coyle

A star of the Irish League, a disappointment in the Football League; perhaps Fay Coyle just wasn't meant to leave these shores...

Name: Francis Coyle
Born: 1 April 1933*, Londonderry
Height: 6.00 ft
Weight: 11.00 st
Died: 30 March 2007, Londonderry
Position: Centre-Forward

Representative Honours: Nothern Ireland: 4 Full Caps (1955-1958), Amateur Caps; Irish League: 5 Caps / 4 Goals (1955-1962).
Club Honours: (with Coleraine) City Cup Winner 1954/55; (with Derry City) Irish League Champion 1964/65; Irish Cup Winner 1963/64; Gold Cup Winner 1964/65.

Club Career:
Derry City....... 51/52-52/53
Coleraine........ 53/54-57/58 348/241 (Total both spells)
Nottingham Forest 57/58.........3/..0
Coleraine........ 58/59-62/63
Derry City....... 63/64-65/66

Biography:
A gifted centre-forward, forever in the sights of English football, Fay Coyle starred in the Irish League with Coleraine for a number of years. His best was perhaps the 1954/55 season when he top-scored in theIrish League with 20 goals and won a City Cup winner’s medal. His performances brought him to the attentions of Peter Doherty and the Irish selectors seeking a solution to their perennial search for a reliable goalscorer. He made his debut in a 2-1 Home Nations victory over Scotland, and retained his place for the following months defeat by England.

Finally, after years of trying, Nottingham Forest prised Coyle away from Coleraine in March 1958. He played just three times for Forest, but interestingly never at the City Ground, before returning homesick to Coleraine in the summer of 1958. Disappointing club form did not however dissuade Doherty from including Coyle in the squad for the World Cup in Sweden. Northern Ireland’s ongoing centre-forward problem was extended by an injury to Billy Simpson in the run-up to tournament, and Coyle was given a chance against Argentina. The game ended in a 3-1 defeat, in what turned out to be Coyle’s last cap.

Back in the Irish League, Coyle added to his collection of North-West Senior Cup medals as Coleraine defeated Derry City in the 1959 and 1960 finals. In 1963 he returned to his hometown club Derry, and captained them to the most successful period in their Irish League history. In 1964 he led them to an Irish Cup final victory over Glentoran, and consequently into Europe for the first time in their history. The next season Derry claimed their only Irish League title, adding the Gold Cup for good measure.

Coyle would witness at close quarters the hardships through which Derry went through the 1970s and ‘80s. He also had the honour of seeing his son, Liam emerge as a leading light in the club’s resurgence in the League of Ireland, and put the family name back into the Northern Ireland team.

Fay Coyle passed away in March 2007.

Derry City Profile

* Many sources list Coyle's date of birth as 1 April 1924. 1933 is the more likely date.

Northern Ireland Cap Details:
08-10-1955 Scotland. (H) W 2-1 BC
02-11-1955 England.. (A) L 0-3 BC
16-01-1957 Portugal. (A) D 1-1 WCQ
11-06-1958 Argentina (N) L 1-3 WCF

Summary: 4/0. Won 1, Drew 1, Lost 2.