Ireland's Sporting Superstars Trivia Quiz

Answer: George Best

Best, dubbed 'the fifth Beatle' for his good looks and flamboyant style, played for Manchester United from 1963-74, helping the club to win First Division titles in 1965 and 1967 and the European Cup in 1968. Unfortunately his lifestyle and addictions to alcohol and gambling began to take over.

He left Manchester United at the age of 27 and finished off his career playing for a range of minor clubs in Britain, Ireland, South Africa, the USA and Australia. Unable to beat his alcoholism, he died in 2005 due to organ failure associated with an earlier liver transplant. Asked once what he had done with the fortune he'd earned, he famously quipped: "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars.

The rest I just squandered." Over 100,000 people attended his funeral in Belfast, and Belfast City Airport is named after him.

Answer: Alex Higgins

Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins single-handedly transformed snooker into a media supersport when he won his first World Championship at the age of 22, because of his rapid-fire play and his challenging of snooker's traditional rules. Like George Best, with whom he is often compared, his brilliance was cut short by alcoholism, gambling and chain-smoking (which gave him throat cancer). Known for his unpredictable volatility as well as his charisma, during his career he head-butted one match referee, punched another, and threatened to have fellow Irish snooker player Dennis Taylor shot. Remaining a folk hero in Belfast in his final years, nevertheless, he died a tragically lonely and premature death in July 2010.

Answer: Sonia O'Sullivan

Dominant in women's middle distance running (1500m, 1 mile, 2000m, 3000m and 5000m) for much of the 1990s, O'Sullivan's achievements included winning gold at the 1995 World Athletic Championships in Gothenburg, and coming second to Romanian runner Gabriela Szabo in the Sydney Olympics 5000m women's final.

After Sydney she concentrated increasingly on World Cross-Country and marathon running.

Answer: Pádraig Harrington

Having won consecutive Open Championships, the first European player to retain the Open's famous Claret Jug trophy since 1906, Pádraig Harrington went on to win a second major, the PGA Championship, in 2008. Apart from Tiger Woods, few other golfers have ever won two (of the four) major golf championships in the same year. Harrington's achievements placed him in the top 10 of world golfers for most of the first decade of the 21st century, and Europe's number one player in 2008.

Answer: Eddie Jordan

Jordan founded Eddie Jordan Racing in 1979 for Formula Three competition, moving into Formula One in 1991 with his new Jordan Grand Prix company. Although a small 'independent' racing team compared to the many big players of Formula One like Ferrari and Renault, 'Jordan' punched above its weight on many occasions over the years, giving Michael Schumacher his Formula One debut, and signing drivers such as Giancarlo Fisichella, Rubens Barrichello, Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher. Faced with falling financial support from sponsors, Jordan sold the team in 2005, which in 2010 was racing as the Force India team.

Answer: Stephen Roche

Stephen Roche's professional cycling career spanned thirteen years from 1981-93. 1987 was his most successful year, winning the Triple Crown, an accomplishment which included his overall win of the Tour de France, the only Irish rider to have achieved this. However, recurrent knee and back injuries suffered in a race crash in 1986 meant he was never as successful after that.

Answer: Barry McGuigan

During Barry McGuigan's professional boxing career in the 1980s, he achieved 32 wins in 35 bouts, including 26 wins by knockout. Tragically one of those, against Nigerian boxer Young Ali in 1982, left his opponent in a coma from which he never recovered before his death six months later. McGuigan successfully defended his WBA title twice before a shock defeat to Texan boxer Stevie Cruz in Las Vegas in 1986. Irish comedian Dermot Morgan (most famous as the star of Irish TV comedy series 'Father Ted') released a record in 1985 titled 'Thank you very very much Mr Eastwood', a comedy skit on McGuigan's overplayed expressions of gratitude to his manager Barney Eastwood after every fight.

In 2005, McGuigan, from the town of Clones in County Monaghan, was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Answer: Brian O'Driscoll

Brian O'Driscoll's international rugby career with Ireland began in 1999, becoming captain in 2003. An unusually prolific try scorer given his outside centre position, he led the Ireland squad in 2009 to their first Grand Slam in 61 years in the Six Nations tournament, also captaining the British and Irish Lions for parts of their 2005 and 2009 tours. In 2010, 'Rugby World' magazine named him the World Rugby Player of the Decade. Not surprisingly, a t-shirt logo popular with Irish rugby supporters reads: "In BOD We Trust"!

Answer: Vincent O'Brien

Vincent O'Brien began as a steeplechase horse trainer, with his horses winning the Grand National at Aintree in three consecutive years (1953-55). He then turned his attention to flat racing, setting up the Ballydoyle stable in County Tipperary which trained a succession of Derby winners including Sir Ivor, Roberto, The Minstrel, Golden Fleece, and most famously of all, Nijinsky. In the 1970s he was part of a consortium which established the massively influential Coolmore Stud, based on the bloodline of the Canadian-bred horse Northern Dancer. O'Brien died in 2009 at the age of 92.

Of the other answers given, Ginger McCain was an English trainer most famously associated with Grand National winner Red Rum, Bart Cummings was a leading Australian trainer, and Lester Piggott was an English jockey who frequently rode Nijinsky to race victory.

Answer: Joey Dunlop

Motorcycle road racer Joey Dunlop won the Ulster Grand Prix 24 times and won five consecutive TT Formula One world championships. In December 2000, having already won the 750cc and 600cc events at the event, he was involved in a fatal crash while leading the 125cc race at a meeting in Tallinn, Estonia. An estimated 50,000 people attended the funeral in his hometown of Ballymoney.

In 2005, 'Motorcycle News' voted him the 5th greatest motorcycle icon of all time. Eight years after Joey's death, his younger brother Robert was also killed while road racing in the North of Ireland.