Philip Patrick Stephen Mulryne, OP (born 1 January 1978) is a Northern Irish Dominican friar and priest in the Catholic Church, and retired professional footballer. Born in Belfast, he started his career at Manchester United before playing more than 150 games for Norwich City and was a Northern Ireland international. After his retirement from football in 2008 Mulryne began studying for the Roman Catholic priesthood. He was ordained as a deacon in October 2016 and then as a priest on 8 July 2017. Football career Mulryne began his career as a youth team player at Manchester United in 1994. He was in the FA Youth Cup winning team of 1995, and became a Northern Ireland international even before he made his first team debut. His full international debut came in February 1997 against Belgium but Mulryne had to wait until the following October to make his debut for United against Ipswich in the League Cup (a 2–0 defeat). Despite being capable as a striker, midfielder or right winger, these positions were virtually monopolised by accomplished players such as David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Andy Cole and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and so Mulryne only managed a handful of first-team games in five seasons at Old Trafford. His only league appearance for United came on the last day of the 1997–98 season, in which he played the full 90 minutes against Barnsley. Mulryne joined Norwich City for £500,000 on 25 March 1999 in the hope of gaining more first-team opportunities. Mulryne made a promising start to his Norwich career, scoring an excellent free-kick in a televised 1–0 win at Grimsby Town in Division One which was just his second appearance for Norwich. However, a broken leg sustained in a tackle with Blackburn Rovers' Christian Dailly shortly after the start of the following season ruled him out for most of the 1999–2000 campaign. In the 2001–02 season, Mulryne was a member of the Norwich team that reached the final of the Division One play-offs. The match ended 1–1 after extra time and Mulryne missed one of the spot-kicks in the subsequent shoot-out as Birmingham City won 4–2 on penalties. Mulryne had missed another penalty earlier that season in a league match against Gillingham at Carrow Road, however Norwich won that game 2–1. Mulryne's contract was expiring that summer and there was speculation regarding his future until he signed a new three-year contract