Although born in Ireland, Boyle's family had moved to Scotland when he was a child and it was here he began playing football regularly. Following the end of his playing career he worked as a miner at Brodsworth Colliery where he also coached the colliery football team, Brodsworth Main, now Brodsworth Welfare A.F.C.. His son Tommy Boyle would also go on to play for Sheffield United with whom he too won an FA Cup winners medal in 1925.