ONCE FOOTBALLERS HANG up their boots, they often admit a struggle to fill a void the game has left in their life.
The adrenaline of match days, the camaraderie with their team-mates and the day-to-day routine of being a professional athlete all disappear overnight.
Many turn to coaching, media work or business interests, but not former Northern Ireland international Philip Mulryne, who has turned his back on that lifestyle to become a Roman Catholic priest.
This weekend, Mulryne was ordained as a deacon by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin. And the 38-year-old is expected to be ordained as a priest next year.
The Belfast native, who won 27 international caps, came through Manchester United’s youth system, but managed just one Premier League appearance for the Old Trafford club.
He then moved on to Norwich City for £500,00, where he spent the majority of his career, and played a key role in their promotion to the top flight in 2004.
Mulryne ended his career with spells at Cardiff City, Leyton Orient and King’s Lynn, before retiring in 2008.
After leaving the world of football, Mulryne became involved in various charity activities, and it is understood he was asked to consider becoming a priest based on his volunteer work.
Mulryne then embarked on a two-year philosophy degree in Rome before starting a four-year philosophy degree in Belfast on his way to becoming a Dominican priest.
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In a few years time he’d be handy in the all-Priests five-a-side Over-75s football match between Craggy Island and Rugged Island.
He obviously has a few screws loose
Fair play
Never too late to follow your calling
Hope all goes well for him
@frank browne: Agreed. If that’s his thing, then fair balls.
@Petr Tarasov: well said. It’s simply a case of following his heart, nothing more, nothing less.
@Petr Tarasov He won’t needs balls in that job
The way things are in that club he might need an extra set!
The other priests will always expect him to take the cross
Yeah and Jesus saves
Great player in champ manager, sweet left foot if I recall
Divine left foot even…
#Boom William
The Golden Cleric Award beckons!
He reached his goal!
Tariq, there are many schools, perhaps not as many as we would like, were Catholic and Protestant are educated together. Your remarks show a great deal of ignorance.
@Robert cummings: I think you’ll find it is you who is being ignorant Robert. By many surely you mean a few. As per the official statistics, 95% of schoolchildren are of one religion in all of the schools in the North.
You don’t get it do you, that stat is based on purely dual denominational schools, there is a significant percentage who attend schools of another denomination. You obviously don’t live in NI, so don’t pontificate on something you haven’t a clue about.
Pontificate, badum dish
@Robert cummings: I do get it Robert. 45% of schools in Northern Ireland are Catholic, 48% are Protestant. Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t make it untrue.
‘In the education system, just 62 of Northern Ireland’s 1,044 schools are integrated while Catholic and Protestant children and teachers continue to be largely educated or trained separately.’
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/new-debates-needed-for-northern-ireland-s-changing-demographics-1.2194036
Robert, please do not try.
@William Kavanagh: I don’t think we’ll be hearing from Robert again.
He says he lives in Bradford but in reality is a fat balding troll from Wexford with no life.
Tariq, you are a bigger fool than I thought. The percentage of integrated schools in NI in 2014/15 accounted for 7% of the pupil population, not 5 %, added to that are the families who have chosen to send their children to other denominational schools for various reasons (locality, grammar school education etc). I agree it’s a long way to go, but what I can’t accept is an opinionated, ill informed outsider criticising a lad who is following a vocation he believes in. So Tariq, my final comment is, do you homework, and not from an article in a newspaper, butt out, you haven’t a clue.
https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/articles/integrated-schools
I know William………sigh!
@Tariq ibn Ziyad: its a shame, he was the one talking sensibly. He never said the majority were, you keep harping to your same beat. He said not as much as we would like, but now it is about 8%. Also, many parents prefer religious schools, as they usually offer better education, and neither promote hatred, thats the parents that do that….
Exactly.
@William Kavanagh: my original point stands, that the North is a divided community, this is common knowledge and not my opinion. The two of you can point to 7% and 8% all you like, those statistics just confirm what I’ve stated is 100% correct and backs up my point.
Choice of religon is not a division. Apart from the few streets in Belfast, where the walls are coming down anyway, everyone lives together. If you ever stepped away from your computer, and entered the real world, you might begin to learn. Ulster has its problems, yes, but also has great communities that respect each other. Your have clearly never been close. Even in the very small city of Belfast, you would never know there was trouble. Only on the Black Cab tours for example, will people only learn of the past.
For a supposed atheist you seem to like to solely bash christianity and no other faiths tariq? Have a go at bashing other faiths, you’ll see that they’re all as loony as each other, some currently more dangerous than others
@Tariq ibn Ziyad: Correction – There are next to no “Protestant” schools in NI. There are State schools and Catholic schools, both of which are open to pupils of all religions and none.
He’d be handy around OT these days!!
Strange!
Not really, he was always good at crosses.
From a devil to a priest!
As long as he doesn’t have to hand over his worldly wealth…
haha, what a dork.
I met Philip he’s a fine man noble and gentle with a kind and compassionate heart. I wish him well.
Him, Katie Taylor, Jesus and the sacred heart!
:(
The lure of young boys got too much