Irish Punters in American Football
It’s shaping up to be a very exciting year for a group of Irish-born athletes in the U.S.
In Wisconsin, Wicklow native Daniel Whelan has earned a pivotal spot on the Green Bay Packers football team.
Whelan is the team punter, meaning he kicks the ball downfield after the Packers fail to score, attempting to minimize their opponent’s scoring chances.
The Packers had a strong season and made it into the National Football League (NFL) playoffs.
Whelan played college football in California, before first signing with the New Orleans Saints.
Speaking of New Orleans, that’s the team Down native Charlie Smyth kicked a field goal for back in late November. First recruited as a U.S.-style kicker just a few years ago at a clinic in Dublin, Smyth has quickly earned a reputation for having one of the strongest place-kicking legs in the NFL.
Over 90 patrons from Smyth’s hometown of Mayobridge packed into Laverty’s Bar in Derry to watch Smyth’s debut, according to ESPN.
“All his best friends were here,” owner Coke Laverty said of his pub. “His granny and granddad were here. One uncle and two aunties were here as well.”
Smyth’s parents flew to Miami for the game to watch him kick a 56-yard field goal, even though his team ultimately lost to the home Dolphins.
Smyth’s kicking coach Tadgh Leader, was also there. Tadgh regularly runs camps in Ireland to recruit rugby and soccer talent for American football. Sponsors include the Irish American Partnership, and the next camp will be held on Monday, December 29, at Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin.
Meanwhile, Belfast native C.J. Fulton was recently signed by the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
For now, however, Fulton is playing on their “G League” team in Iowa until the top club decides what role they want Fulton to play.
Fulton comes from a long line of top Belfast athletes. Both his father and grandfather played professional basketball for the Irish national squad, and his great-grandfather, Bertie, played soccer for Great Britain at the 1936 Olympics.
Leading the Way
“This is the thing I would have killed for two years ago,” Tadgh Leader said in the recent RTE documentary entitled Punt, about the U.S. National Football League (NFL) and its efforts to recruit Irish athletes as kickers.
In recent years, Leader has partnered with several corporate sponsors and the Irish American Partnership to launch Leader Kicking, which guides Irish athletes to a wide range of opportunities in U.S. college and professional athletics.
Many of the opportunities revolve around American football kicking, in part because Gaelic football, soccer and rugby are so popular in Ireland,
In American football, place kickers earn points with field goals or “points after touchdowns,” while punters kick the ball off to the other team. The further they kick, the harder it usually is for an opponent to score.
“The (National Football) league has put in place opportunities for more international participation,” said Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney III in the RTE documentary.“That opens up a door for the Irish to come over (to the U.S.) and play some football.”
Leader, a Galway native, has been designated by the NFL as an official International Pathway Player coach.
Mark Jackson, Charlie Smyth, Rory Beggan, and Darragh Leader are just some of the Irish athletes who’ve made it to the NFL by way of the International Pathway Player program.
Leader himself has played professional rugby and American-style football, and said his passion for kicking stems from an early love for Gaelic Football, Soccer, and Rugby.
Leader played for Connacht Rugby in his teens before an injury led him to pursue education in the U.S. While Leader Kicking aims to steer athletes toward the NFL and other professional leagues, there are also many different athletic and educational opportunities at top-tier American universities.
Irish athletes Ross Bolger and Ronan Patterson received scholarships to Division One U.S. colleges after spending time at Leader Kicking, and have also earned kicking spots on professional teams.
Izzy Sullivan Nevada Wolf Pack Guard
Izzy Sullivan, who came to the U.S. from Dublin on a basketball scholarship, is currently in the middle of her junior year playing for the University of Nevada women’s Division One basketball team. A standout guard for the team, Izzy made an immediate impact as a freshman in the 2023-24 season, earning Mountain West All-Freshman Team honors and setting a school record with four freshman of the week awards. If Izzy and her teammates continue to have a strong season, they will participate in the NCAA basketball tournament, widely known as “March Madness.”
Sullivan may also position herself to be drafted – after this year or next, following her senior year – by a Women’s NBA team.
On The Run
Fionnuala McCormack finished tenth in the New York City Marathon on November 6.
This result came less than two months after finishing ninth at the World Championships Marathon in Tokyo. The Wicklow native and mother of three was nearly four minutes shy of her personal best (2:23.46) for this distance, set a year ago in Valencia.
Tipperary Hurlers Visit S.F.
Francisco has a strong Tipperary Hurling Club, which is a dominant force in North American hurling and a major part of the San Francisco GAA community. The club called Na Fianna (est. 1987) competes at a high level, with both its senior and junior teams winning championships in 2025 and playing key rivalries against other top US clubs. Na Fianna San Diego (est. 1997) is a major ladies’ football and camogie club in the Southwest Division.
In November, Willie Connors and Billy Seymour (pictured right), two of the 2025 Tipperary All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champions, visited San Francisco to help raise money for the club at an event at the Irish Center.
Ireland’s Athlete of the Year
Heptathlete Kate O’Connor was crowned Ireland’s Athlete of the Year at the 123.ie National Athletics Awards on Nov 26th in Dublin.
The star, who made history in Paris last year as the first Irish heptathlete to compete at an Olympics, received her gong at a prestigious ceremony held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
She was recognized for her efforts following a remarkable 2025 season that saw her win silver in the heptathlon at the World Championships in Tokyo, gold at the World University Games, and medals at both the World and European Indoor Championships.
She twice broke her own national heptathlon and pentathlon records, finishing the year as the top-ranked European and number two in the world.
Born in Newry, Co. Down, but now living in Dundalk, Co. Louth, the 24-year-old also collected the Field & Multi Event Athlete of the Year Award.
Meanwhile, Derval O’Rourke was inducted into the Irish Athletics Hall of Fame.
The Cork native first burst onto the international stage in 2003, breaking the 13-second mark for the first time with a 12.96 in the 100m hurdles to finish fourth at the European U23 Athletics Championships in Poland.
That performance set a new national record but also secured her the ‘A standard’ qualification for the 2004 Olympic Games and marked the beginning of an illustrious career that would see O’Rourke represent Ireland at three Olympic Games.
Her breakthrough continued in 2006 when she claimed World Indoor gold in the 60m hurdles, cementing her status as one of Ireland’s most decorated athletes.
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