Limerick Priest who opened door to Pope John Paul II audience for Irish soccer stars passes away

Limerick man travelled as a chaplain with the Irish team to Rome in 1990 and became a 'clerical celebrity'

Monsignore Boyle: Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy, said the late Vicar General of the Limerick Diocese had been an “exemplary priest”. Picture: Patrick Bolger, Inpho

Tributes have been paid to a former 'celebrity' chaplain to the Republic of Ireland football team, who famously secured a private audience for the squad with Pope John Paul II during Italia 1990.

Retired Rev Monsignor Liam Boyle, a native of Rathkeale, and later Knockaderry, Co Limerick, passed away at Milford Hospice, following a long illness, on December 2. He was 91.