What started out as a normal school day turned into the opportunity of a lifetime for Molly and Ruby Mulholland

Molly and Ruby Mulholland, alongside their younger sister Daisy, meeting Ed Sheeran during his trip to Belfast on Friday

Two Northern Ireland sisters are still coming back down to earth after performing for Ed Sheeran and Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody on Friday.

Molly, 17 and 15-year-old Ruby Mulholland, performing as The Mulholland Sisters from Glengormley, had the incredible opportunity to perform a cover of Noah Kahan’s ‘Stick Season’ for the music superstars.

The girls received a surprise phone call on Thursday evening, asking them to perform at the Oh Yeah Music Centre the next day for some “very special guests”.

What started out as a normal school day turned into the opportunity of a lifetime for the pair, who both attended Dominican College Fortwilliam as normal on Friday before travelling into Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter for the surprise event.

Ed Sheeran was in town as part of the UK wide launch of his new charity, The Ed Sheeran Foundation. The Foundation, which aims to raise the profile of UK music education and advocate for more music industry support and Government investment in talent development.

It will support three local music organisations – Drake Music Northern Ireland, Hotbox Entertainment and the Oh Yeah Music Centre.

Accompanied by Gary Lightbody on his visit, Ed spent time meeting young participants on the organisations’ music programmes. He also joined in with a band rehearsal and took part in a Q&A with aspiring gig promoters and producers.

For Molly and Ruby, who both sing and play guitar, their big surprise was only revealed when both musicians walked into the room during their performance.

Molly told Belfast Live their choice of chart-topping Stick Season by US singer Noah Kahan only came to them an hour beforehand.

“We had no idea who it was going to be at all so we just chose some of our best songs from busking that we like to play. We chose Stick Season because we just love it and thought it was that people can sing along too. It’s also one of the songs that people seem to love when we’re out busking,” she added.

Young Northern Ireland musicians supported by the Oh Yeah Music Centre with Ed Sheeran and Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody (Image: Bradley Quinn)
It was a huge moment for the sisters, who have been performing around Northern Ireland as a duo for a number of years. While singing for two big name artists was both exciting and nerve-wracking, their proud family say they rose to the occasion with confidence and composure beyond their years.

Ruby said it’s an experience they’ll never forget: “I couldn’t believe it when they both walked in the door. I was nervous when I first saw them but once they stood there for a minute,. you could tell they were enjoying it which made it so much easier to sing. They spoke to us afterwards and shook our hands.”

Molly added: “It was such an incredible experience. I wasn’t nervous at all as they were both smiling, nodding their heads and enjoying the music. They gave us a big clap at the end, chatted away and signed our guitars. Ed asked how long we’d been playing guitar and said we were very good.”

Ed Sheeran and Gary Lightbody with Charlotte Dryden of the Oh Yeah Music Centre (Image: Bradley Quinn)
It was a proud moment too for their mum Tracy Mulholland who was equally starstruck: “We couldn’t believe it at all – it was just a real whirlwind for all of us from Thursday evening after we got that phone call.

“They went to school as normal on Friday and then we picked them up, took them down to the Oh Yeah Centre and within two hours they were playing for Ed Sheeran and Gary Lightbody.”

She added: “We got to meet them and they were both so lovely so it was a real dream come true for the girls as they play Ed Sheeran and Snow Patrol songs. We were trying to speculate on Thursday night about who the special guests might be as we had no clue but we couldn’t believe it when they walked in”.

After their celebrity meeting, the sisters’ are now preparing for their next big gig at Belfast’s Grand Opera House next month, Future Talent, which showcases a number of up-and-coming young talent across the island of Ireland.