Master butcher Jim to lead Irish team at world tests

JIM MURPHY of Murphy’s Butchers, Tullow will lead the Irish team at the World Butchers Challenge later this month.

After a stellar performance at the 2022 World Butchers Challenge in Sacramento, USA, the team is eager to showcase the very best of Irish butchery in this year’s competition in Paris.

Over the last two years, the team of talented senior butchers working alongside Jim have been travelling from across the country to Tullow every week to train with him and his wife Bernadette, who is also on the team.

Alongside Jim and Bernadette are Paul Hamilton, James Etterson, Ger Callaghan and Mark Williams. They will be joined in Paris by apprentice butchers Ebonie Murtagh and Leon Moore, who will compete in a separate challenge.

The Irish squad will join 15 teams from across the globe to participate in a gruelling 3½-hour competition to expertly cut up a side of beef, a side of pork, a full lamb and six chickens. The apprentice team face a shorter challenge lasting an hour-and-a-half.

Speaking ahead of the competition, Jim Murphy said: “It’s for the love of the trade that we do it. It’s a big-time commitment, we’ve been training every Sunday since 2023, just after the competition in Sacramento in 2022. Having pride in your work and loving the work is the biggest part of it.”