Philip Mulryne, former Northern Ireland midfielder and Manchester United player, is now a priest after quitting the sport.
Mulryne earned 27 caps for his country. He also played for Norwich and Cardiff City.
He was ordained as a deacon in the Catholic Church back in 2017.
Mulryne began his career at Old Trafford after progressing through the club’s academy but made just one Premier League appearance for the club before moving to Norwich in 1999 for £500,000. He made over 150 league appearances for the Norwich before leaving for Cardiff City in 2005.
His career would then start to go downhill, barely featuring for the Welsh side before spells at Leyton Orient and King’s Lynn Town – retiring in 2008
At 31, he began formation for the Catholic priesthood after he started to fall out of love with football. Mulryne, who earned over £500,000-a season in his best years, didn’t enjoy where his career was going – and thus, he made a significant change.
Mulryne was once quoted on Norwich’s official website as saying he became dissatisfied with his former lifestyle while at Norwich.
He said: ‘We have a wonderful life as a footballer and I was very privileged, but I found with all the surrounding stuff that eventually there was a kind of emptiness with it. I was quite shocked – why am I not happy when I have everything that young men want?
‘It started me on a journey towards exploring my faith again, the faith that I had as a young man. I took a decision to come home for a year and it was really during that year that everything turned upside down.
‘I volunteered at a homeless shelter for a while. I started going back to mass and I started praying again on a regular basis. I just found a real sense of fulfilment with it. Football was huge highs and lows and here was something that was giving me a steady sense of contentment.’
Mulryne, 46, goes by the title Reverend Father Philip Mulryne after he was ordained a priest for the Dominican Order in 2017 and now currently oversees a congregation at St. Mary’s Priory Church in Cork.
After quitting the game over a decade ago, Mulryne revealed he has no regrets about his decision.
He added: ‘My vocation to priesthood and religious life came later in the course of that year – I felt this strong desire for this way of life and I stayed with it for a few months and then got the courage up to explore it and I took the decision and it’s now eight years later.’
Source: Mailonline
