Charlie Smyth made headlines on Sunday when he not only kicked a 56-yard field goal in his NFL debut, but he also kicked one of the rarest field goals in American football.
After passing through the NFL’s international player pipeline, Smith was signed by the New Orleans Saints and named to the game roster against the Miami Dolphins.
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Although the Saints ultimately lost the game, the former Gaelic football player played a positive role in New Orleans’ difficult season.
After making his first NFL field goal, Smith was flying between the posts with room to spare before completing an onside kick, a short restart tactic used to try to regain possession when a loss is on the scoreboard.
Startup techniques are rarely successful. In fact, its recovery success rate in the NFL this season is only 7%.
But how did his GAA background help him overcome the difficulties?
According to Saints special teams coordinator Phil Gagliano, for Smith, using his batting skills to take advantage of the sidelines is the “easy part” of the game.
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The 24-year-old grew up playing Gaelic football in County Down, and as a goalkeeper he often found himself hitting the opposition post from distance on the turf.
Galliano said touchline kicking techniques are similar to playing Gaelic football and his job is to “find out what the players do best and use that to our advantage”.
“His background is being able to kick the ball, it’s a natural swing,” Galliano added.
“We worked on the edge on Friday, Saturday and in training camp, and he did a really good job at it.
“As he explained to me, in Gaelic football it’s the natural swing of the ball. He felt really good about it so I said ‘let’s get on with it’.”
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“He has to stay humble and hungry”
After regular kicker Blake Grupp was waived by the Saints, Smith, who had been on the practice roster for 18 months, faced veteran Cade York in the shootout against the Dolphins.
Galliano said Smith’s performance during the game “showed that he was ready” and that he was “focused and focused.”
The 48-year-old was also impressed with Smith’s kick against Miami and thought the 70-yarder would have been good.
“He really takes it very high, which is what you want,” he said.
“Big guys are harder to block and you see that when they’re lower down.
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“The higher numbers you get, the less likely you are to get blocked, but one of the things that gave him a lot of problems is something we’ve been working on, which is when we were in California, it was a windy day.
“The further you go, the more the wind affects the ball, so you have to change the way you play the ball a little bit. That’s another thing he needs to get used to.”
After a successful debut with the Saints, Smith will get another chance to impress on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But as Galliano warned despite “making the most of his opportunity,” the hype is now over and dusted, with all attention focused on Tampa.
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Smith’s family flew to Miami at the last minute after he left the team, and he returned to his hometown of Mayobridge for his NFL debut, where local pubs celebrated his NFL debut with free pints of beer.
To his credit, Smith has spoken about this in an interview with BBC Sport NI, having instituted his own “24-hour rule” to shake off lingering emotions from the game.
“There was a lot of intrigue and stuff like that. It was fine, but I talked to him and then it was over,” Galliano added.
“We had a chance to enjoy this, but now we have Tampa and his next game.
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“He has to stay humble, stay hungry, keep improving and do a good job for us.”