Cillian McMulkin

From Countdown
Cillian McMulkin
octochamp statistics
Final position Runner-up
Seeding 2
Points total 944
Conundrums solved 7
Cillian McMulkin in Series 65...
...and 12 years later in Series 87.

Cillian McMulkin was a contestant in Series 65 and an octochamp in and the runner-up of 87. He was a risk analyst from Omagh, County Tyrone but originally from Belfast. He has been an Apterite since 2009, achieving a Top 20 position in the Apterous Pro Ranks leaderboard.

Appearances on the programme

Series 65

Debuting during Jeff Stelling's last series, McMulkin fell fourteen points short of victory to eventual octochamp Dave Taylor but did have the last word by solving the conundrum.

Series 87 heats

Over eleven later and with years of practice on Apterous under his belt since then, he was allowed to return – starting his run against Peter Burke in an all-Ireland affair. McMulkin would not be beaten this time, winning 107 – 66 to deny Burke's octochampdom and kick off with a century. He followed this with seven more sensational performances, which were also all centuries.

Of particular note that in his fifth victory, McMulkin equalled the current record for the highest score of 154. Spots of CARBONITE, MOLESTING and MALIGNERS helped him to rack up that score with only GUNMETAL eluding him to deny a max game. His seventh victory also tied for the highest possible score recorded in a game of Countdown, matching the 175 from 19 January 2018 and 9 September 2020 with McMulkin spotting SENHORITA and SUBALPINE as two of the five available nine-letter words in that game.

In his eighth victory which saw him spot a seventh nine of SIGNATURE and dropped only one point for the second time in his heats, McMulkin secured octochampdom with a total of 944 points to become the first one of the series and of 2023 – this also made him the 30th member of the 900 club.

McMulkin was the first octochamp to be crowned with Colin Murray as the full-time presenter. McMulkin notably remained as the only octochamp of the series until late-May when Ronan Higginson became the second, which itself was a first in thirteen years and the first in the new 15-round era.

Finals

As the second seed, McMulkin returned for his quarter-final match against fellow Apterite Dave Cappleman where he got off to an instant flier by spotting RANTOONES in Round 1 to take an eighteen-point lead. Despite Cappleman closing the gap after a misfire of scampie ☓ from McMulkin and an excellent spot of GOODLIER from Cappleman, McMulkin eventually put his foot back on the gas with EUCRITES in Round 13 to confirm his victory and advancement to the semi-finals despite neither player being able to solve the conundrum.

In his rematch with Peter Burke and despite an early stumble, McMulkin eventually roared to victory with thanks in part to the spots of DEMONICAL, EPISTERNA and RADICULES to record his tenth consecutive century and storm into the grand final where Ronan Higginson lay in waiting for him for a hotly anticipated matchup. Before the start of his semi-final gameplay, he was anointed as "The Incredible Mulk" by Colin Murray due to his achievements during his octorun.

In the grand final, McMulkin and Higginson started immediately with a spot of IGNORABLE in the first round. But after some unfortunate misfires from McMulkin with aluroids ☓ and quandries ☓ alongside quality spots like MAPWISE, ODALISK and PECORAITE from Higginson as well as superior numbers play, Higginson eventually raced away to win the series with 150 points while McMulkin took the runner-up spot with 83 points (his lowest score on the show to date). McMulkin amassed an overall total of 1,258 points in Series 87 and with his 2011 appearance, his overall total is 1,343 points from 12 games.

Preceded by
Edward Byrne		 Series runner-up
Series 87		 Followed by
Viraj Seelam

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
5321 31/08/2011 P Dave Taylor 99 – 85 Cillian McMulkin Jeff Stelling Rachel Riley John Inverdale Susie Dent 143
7939 25/01/2023 P Peter Burke 66 – 107 Cillian McMulkin Colin Murray Rachel Riley Stephen K. Amos Susie Dent 134
7940 26/01/2023 P Cillian McMulkin 109 – 51 Cheryl Perkins Colin Murray Rachel Riley Stephen K. Amos Susie Dent 130
7941 27/01/2023 P Cillian McMulkin 124 – 43 Amy Perryman Colin Murray Rachel Riley Stephen K. Amos Susie Dent 135
7942 30/01/2023 P Cillian McMulkin 101 – 61 Toby Rogers Colin Murray Rachel Riley Justin Moorhouse Susie Dent 121
7943 31/01/2023 P Cillian McMulkin 154 – 69 Chris Davies Colin Murray Rachel Riley Justin Moorhouse Susie Dent 155
7944 01/02/2023 P Cillian McMulkin 112 – 45 Jon Sluckis Colin Murray Rachel Riley Justin Moorhouse Susie Dent 124
7945 02/02/2023 P Cillian McMulkin 116 – 33 Ron Squire Colin Murray Rachel Riley Justin Moorhouse Susie Dent 175
7946 03/02/2023 P Cillian McMulkin 121 – 35 Alison Adams Colin Murray Rachel Riley Justin Moorhouse Susie Dent 122
8045 22/06/2023 QF Cillian McMulkin 109 – 81 Dave Cappleman Colin Murray Rachel Riley Marcus Brigstocke Susie Dent 137
8049 28/06/2023 SF Cillian McMulkin 122 – 41 Peter Burke Colin Murray Rachel Riley Maggie Aderin-Pocock Susie Dent 153
8050 29/06/2023 GF Ronan Higginson 150 – 83 Cillian McMulkin Colin Murray Rachel Riley Maggie Aderin-Pocock Susie Dent 155
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