The 24-year-old former Gaelic footballer from County Down landed a spectacular 56-yard field goal on his debut for the New Orleans Saints in their 21-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami
Eyebrows were certainly raised in the quaint village of Mayobridge, County Down, when local lad Charlie Smyth set off to chase his American dream. However, with one mighty kick on his NFL debut, any lingering doubts were swiftly booted away.
The 24 year old former Gaelic footballer, who also happens to be a qualified Irish-speaking schoolteacher, demonstrated nerves of steel as he nailed an impressive 56-yard field goal at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, despite the Saints’ 21-17 defeat to the Dolphins.
This was Smyth’s grand entrance in his first regular-season game for the Saints, which he followed up with one of the most precise onside kicks of the NFL season – all within a year of joining the International Player Pathway Program of American football.
Irishmen featuring in a regular NFL game are as rare as a full barrel of Guinness at the end of St Patrick’s Day and his efforts were met with joyous celebration in his home village’s two bars, where free rounds were gleefully accepted.
But Mayobridge GAA club secretary Thomas O’Hare admitted there were initially plenty of doubters when Smyth opted to trade in a bright future in Gaelic football and a career in teaching for a punt on a professional NFL contract in early 2024.
O’Hare has known Smyth “for most of his life” and watched him develop through the Mayobridge club’s age groups.
He told the Press Association: “It’s a funny thing. When Charlie started going to these (NFL) trials, our club was in the middle of the season. He missed a game on a Sunday morning and we were all saying, ‘What the f*** is this fella doing?’
“Our village is small and Gaelic football, the club championship, is everything and I was one of those saying, ‘What is this man doing?’ No-one could really believe it.
“But what Charlie has done is surreal. It’s just crazy. I’ve followed him since he was a small child. They had a good wee local (Gaelic football) team and Charlie was always one of the star players.
“He had a massive kick in Gaelic football, but for him to go and perfect the art of place-kicking in the NFL so quickly, it’s crazy.”
New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore described Smyth’s field goal as “phenomenal”, adding post-match on Sunday: “Charlie’s earned this opportunity. We have a lot of confidence in him. He obviously has the leg to make some big-time kicks.”
Saints quarterback Tyler Shough was equally impressed by Smyth’s kick, adding: “It was ice cold, ice cold in his veins.
“I think that’s tough, whenever you’re sitting around the whole game, you’re trying to stay warm. I think he did a really good job just coming in. I was really proud of him stepping up there.
“That (onside kick) is a huge play. Charlie was a huge deal for us.”
Jude McAtamney (New York Giants) earlier this year and Neil O’Donoghue (Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and St Louis Cardinals) 1977-1985 are the only other Irish-born kickers to feature in a regular NFL game.
While O’Donoghue had a background in hurling and hockey, McAtamney, like Smyth, started out in Gaelic football, the latter an Ulster Under-20 Championship winner with County Down as a goalkeeper in 2021.
“Charlie was never a goalkeeper until recently,” O’Hare said. “He always would have played out, in midfield. He’s a big fella, six foot four. He took the free-kicks and put it over the bar.
“He used to practice them up in the field at Mayobridge. You used to see him practising these free-kicks off the ground aged about 12 or 13.
“That’s a decent thing to have in Gaelic football because if you have someone good at that, you’re halfway to winning because you get a lot of frees during the game.
“More recently he was playing for Down in the under-20s and he was put in as goalkeeper. He was a good keeper, but more so because of his long kick, the goal-kicks, restarts.
“Those have got like soccer now, where every goal-kick is possession-based. They no longer just hoof it out, you need someone who’s accurate and that’s how Charlie developed as a goalkeeper.”
Smyth was told he would be Saints’ starting kicker on Friday and immediately rang his parents, Leo and Julie, who jumped on the first available flight to Miami, via Chicago, with his sisters Caitlin and Molly, to share in their boy’s dream coming true.
He signed a three-year deal with the Saints in April 2024 and revealed then that he had no intention of languishing in the practice squad to “earn a wee bit of money and then go home”.
Smyth said: “For me, it’s not about money, it’s about being the best version of myself and representing my country on a world stage and inspiring younger lads to follow suit.”
O’Hare believes the NFL is growing in popularity among Ireland’s younger generation and said he was proud to describe Smyth as the perfect role model.
“He’s such a gentleman and a lot of the children here really are captivated by him,” O’Hare added.
“And they have really taken to him in America. He’s got the Irish accent, he’s big. He’s sort of got everything going for him.
“He’s just a good lad. And grounded. When he comes home for Christmas or in the summer he’ll be up at the club playing pool or darts. He’s one of the boys.
“He knows where he’s from. That’s one thing about him. He’ll never get carried away. He comes from a good family and they’ll not let him. It’s not in his nature to do that anyway.”
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