British and Irish Lions: The greatest ever Ulster players to have represented the famous tourists
The British and Irish Lions arrive in Australia this week ahead of Saturday's opening tour game against Western Force so no better time to have a go at selecting a 'dream team' from the tourists' long and storied history.
But our remit is to pick the finest Lions match day squad made up of Ulster players who have previously donned the coveted jersey, a situation which also seems apt as, this time around, not a single representative from the province has made the cut for 2025's version of this famous side.
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Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Emma Raducanu's visit sees Carlos Alcaraz open up as promise made to new partner
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Wales Online
2 hours ago
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Brian Barry-Murphy's famous dad issued five-word response when asked about Cardiff City job
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His legacy was brought back into the spotlight in 2022 when Roy Keane, appearing on Monday Night Football, named Barry-Murphy Snr. as his greatest sporting hero—leaving the Sky Sports panel momentarily lost for words. "Growing up in Ireland, the GAA was a big part of my life," said Keane. "Hurling—watching Jimmy Barry-Murphy playing for Cork—you know, brilliant sportsman." So it's fair to say, he is qualified to offer his opinion when his son needs advice in the sporting arena. And his response was unequivocally in the affirmative. Article continues below "I got advice [from his father] in the sense that he just told me to take the job," Barry-Murphy said. "He said: 'don't think twice about it'. "He was speaking about the stature of this club and where it is and what an opportunity it is to put the supporters and the club on a path to something completely different and that is why have come here. "A lot of how I work and how I try to bring people on this journey is down to what I witnessed from him growing up. I thought we could get away without mentioning him, but now that we have there was always an expectation based on my father's exploits, there was always an expectation in our household that we had to win and he had to win and had to be winning trophies. "That kind of stuff you become aware of it from a very young age so I have lived with that my whole life and get out of the spotlight of that." That winning mentality of which Barry-Murphy speaks has been sorely lacking in the Welsh capital for some years now. Indeed it's been a steady slide downwards since the relegation from the Premier League and the club's board hope that the Irishman's appointment signifies a meaningful directional shift in more ways than one. During the head coach's first press conference this week, he outlined with a real clarity how he wants to play and seemed extraordinarily confident that he would be able to deliver it. Admirable, but of course he will have to walk the walk after talking the talk. He does, however, have excellent schooling under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, where he spent three years as the head academy coach. Going there from Rochdale, where he was lauded for his style of play, but ultimately saw them relegated out of League One, taught him how to turn his philosophy into winning football – which Cardiff fans will hope to see at Cardiff City Stadium over the course of his three-year contract and beyond. "When you go somewhere like Man City you see how to turn that possession-based football into effective football where you have to serve the ball to a certain calibre of footballer who wanted it quicker," he said. 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"That's something that has evolved over time and leaves me where I am today, it leaves me in a much more progressive way where a team can be more aggressive and it gives the supporters something that I know works and I know how it works based on where I have been and hopefully it will invigorate the Cardiff supporters. "It allows you to win. You can dodge that question as much as you want but really We are here to win and win often enough to achieve the objectives that we want." Barry-Murphy's most recent job was at Leicester City, an experience he says he "got a lot out of" even if Ruud van Nistelrooy's side did suffer Premier League relegation. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here. But it was his first step out into elite, senior football after leaving Man City — he also cites now-Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca as a huge help to him there — and now this will be his first head coach job since departing Rochdale in 2022. There is a risk, of course, but all appointments at this level, where these sorts of clubs find themselves, have risks attached. Some will take convincing, but Barry-Murphy wouldn't have it any other way. When asked if he felt he had something to prove as a head coach of a club the size of Cardiff, he replied: "That is the way you want it. "If you were in the background and not being judged and nobody had an opinion on you, that is fine for some people but not for me. I am fine about whatever opinion people have of me. Article continues below "My dedication is to the club and to the players so that they can train every day to win on a Saturday. I am fine about being judged on that. 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Metro
2 hours ago
- Metro
Surfing on the north coast of Ireland, I learned an important life lesson
Ricky Martin told me to trust him as he shoved me onto a surfboard and told me I wasn't going to drown. I can't swim. I'm pushing 30 and I don't even know how to float, something not helped by watching Titanic when I was four. But as Ricky, my 45-year-old surf instructor for the day reminded me, the ocean we are standing in on the coast of Northern Ireland was barely above my knees. He spotted a promising wave and told me to get ready to pop up, moving from a push-up into a crouched stance, on my foam board. I paddled and up I went, fighting every instinct to look down at the sea below. My first ride lasted only a few seconds, but for a moment, I didn't have time to second-guess myself or overthink. You do it, or you don't. And I did it. Fuel your wanderlust with our curated newsletter of travel deals, guides and inspiration. Sign up here. Unlike me, Ricky always pictured himself as a surfer. 'When I was younger, there was no such thing as surf schools, let alone lifeguards on the beach,' he tells me at his school on the West Strand. 'My parents said I had to be a good swimmer and I could start when I was 14.' 'I got a surfboard for Christmas. I turned 14 in January, it was the most stoked I've ever been, and that was it. I've lived in the sea ever since.' That's why he created the surf school Alive Adventures, to help people experience the freeing thrill of riding a wave. As an urban beach, the Portrush waves are smaller and more manageable to learn on. 'Getting in the water is good for your mental and physical health,' Martin says. 'I think everyone should do it.' There are many people like Ricky in Northern Ireland, keen to show that the country isn't just Game of Thrones shoot locations, pints and rain. Rather, it's a place away from mounting emails and procrastination where you can finally say, you know what, why not? This was my mantra when I boarded a flight to Belfast from London Gatwick on a Wednesday in May: give it a shot, no matter how anxious I was, something my therapist has long begged me to do. That, and tell every Irish person I meet that I'm a 'quarter Irish'. After delivering said line to a taxi driver, I stepped out in front of Room2 Belfast, my home for the night ahead of my tour of the country's northeast coast. The next morning, I checked out to hike around Glenariff Forest Park, in the North Antrim Hills, about an hour's drive from the capital. Woods, rivers and walking trails fringed with garlic and strawberries make up the 1,200-hectare area, seven times the size of Hyde Park. 'It looks like something out of a movie,' Victoria Canavan, our guide from Tourism NI, tells us in front of Ess-Na-Crub Waterfall. 'You're just waiting for a mermaid to pop out.' Victoria says leaving the office behind to feel the grass beneath her feet is common in Northern Ireland, easy to do in a country where greenery is as common as existential crises are these days. Horses are another way to get around. But my steed, Ranger, wasn't going anywhere. Not when there was food next to him. Ranger, one of 150 horses at Shean's Horse Farm in Ballymoney, was holding back our group by constantly nibbling on the grass. To be fair, if food were around me all the time, I'd do the same. Melissa McCollan, 43, who's worked at Shean's for six years, says people come from all over the world to see Northern Ireland on horseback. 'You won't get any experience in the world, like look at it,' she says, gesturing at the hillside as Ranger, of course, was eating. 'Even in the rain, it looks beautiful. 'Some people come for their background and heritage because everyone's got a bit of Irish in them. We're all so amazing that yous' are all descended from us.' It turns out that horse riding, which famously consists of sitting, is one hell of a workout. Exhausted, we drove 20 minutes to the Marine Hotel in Ballycastle to rest. Many tourists flock to the port town to see the most mythical of actual creatures: puffins. Seven miles off the shore is Rathlin Island, where puffins, seals and dolphins dive in sun-silvered waters while lighthouses keep watch. Charles Stewart, 55, and Dawn Hines, 'under 40', are taking me for a boat tour of the island on Friday. The Kinatra Boat Tours founders are joined by patient bird-watchers hoping to spot the island's predatory birds. 'The basking sharks always bring a smile to people's faces,' says Charles. 'We once saw a minke whale, it was amazing.' Dawn, a marine biologist, adds: 'Nature is vital to us and we love it, Rathlin is ever-changing.' The day then became a lot more Irish. It started bucketing down as we drove to the setting of this year's Open, Royal Portrush Golf Club. Pro Gary McNeil taught me how to swing a golf club without sending the ball into the car park. The sea was steel-grey the next morning as I left the hotel for the Giant's Causeway, said to have been formed by the trampling of the mythical, 54-foot-tall giant Benandonner. Stories are everywhere in Northern Ireland, explains James Neil, 38, a visitor experience officer with the National Trust. 'Generations of people have told these stories for a very long time and it gives us a sense of place,' he says, adding that his favourite legend is one of a nagging grandmother turned to stone by Benandonner. 'Myths are important – they connect us to our past.' Portrush was the final leg of my coastal tour, where we had a booking that day at the four-star Elephant Rock Hotel. One surf lesson later, we spent the evening eating fish and chips and arancini at the restaurant, Shanty Portrush, looking out at the dragon-back rocks and rain-whipped seas. A pub rammed with neon Guinness signs – where Victoria had her first date with her partner – was our final spot of the tour. A true Irish send-off. Come Sunday morning, I got ready for my flight. Killing time at the airport, I rummage in my suitcase: A puffin hat, a golf ball and swim trunks still smelling of seawater. That's when something Ricky had said came back to me. One of my goals in therapy is, pretty simply, to do karaoke. The thought of being up on a stage, screeching Love Shack by the B-52s, is terrifying. Ricky knows everyone has fears that stop them from doing small things, which is why he set up an activity provider in a town of only 6,000. More Trending So, if I can surf or go horse riding, why can't I do other things like sing in front of people? 'We bring people from around the world and help them with their mental health,' Ricky said, 'and when I see them blossom, I just love it.' If they can blossom, I think to myself as I board, then I can, too. Josh Milton was a guest of Tourism Ireland. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: I fell head over heels for Europe's last hidden gem — it just got easier to explore MORE: Map reveals UK cheating hotspot where the most people have been unfaithful MORE: I went to the world's wettest Pride parade where everyone gets soaked
