in 1569 googe dedicated a long allegorical poem with a moralistic marine topic, "the shippe of safegarde", to his sisters-in-law. by this time, googe had served cecil on a military expedition to ireland, where he had contracted dysentery and nearly died. in 1571 he was returned as mp for aldborough, yorkshire. further service in ireland awaited him in 1582 when googe was appointed to the position of provost-marshal of the court of connaught; some twenty letters of his in this capacity are preserved in the public record office. googe considered the post a hardship. he wrote to burghley that "i here live amongst a sort of scythians, wanting the comfort of my country, my poor wife and children". googe repeatedly petitioned the political masters in london to be allowed to come home. on the death of his stepmother, ellen (née gadbury) in 1587 he received his inheritance. he finally succeeded in selling his office in the late 1580s.