Category Sports News

At the High Performance Centre in Dublin during the week between Christmas and New Year, approximately 100 kickers and punters, all NFL hopefuls from across the island of Ireland, assembled for a winter training session under the watchful eyes of Tadhg Leader and his staff.

A former rugby fly-half who switched to kicking as a player, Leader now runs an academy helping prospective talent get scholarships in the USA, as well as serving as a coach on the NFL’s International Player Pathway (IPP) programme.

While it is a relatively new phenomenon, the prospect of playing college football Stateside before then embarking on a career in the NFL is no longer a pipe dream for the hopefuls in attendance.

In 1985, the Dubliner Neil O’Donoghue ended his eight-year, three-team career at the then St Louis Cardinals, and when Derry’s Jude McAtamney took to the field for the New York Giants in November 2024, it bridged a near 40-year gap.

While McAtamney was released by the Giants this season, Smyth – who worked with Leader before impressing the Saints – finished the year as the starting kicker in New Orleans, playing the last six games of the campaign.

With many of those in attendance at the Dublin camp already having made an impact in college football, soon there could well be more claiming spots on NFL team rosters – it is definitely, as Leader notes, become “a thing”.

“It is ‘a thing’ absolutely, and a lot has gone into making it ‘a thing’,” he says.

“Just a year or two ago, we’d have had 10 lads here, but we had the passion, energy and belief that Irish lads could do this.

“We sent a few out that have proven that and now we’ve near 100 lads here. I will probably need to go buy more footballs for the next session.”

Leader believes that, with Smyth the example, more and more will view the once unlikely journey as a viable sporting path.

“The belief now is that it’s possible,” he added.

“Having real life examples, lads like Charlie Smyth and what he’s doing, [other] lads from Tyrone, Derry, Cork, now you can see it, you can believe it and that’s also been the proof of concept on the American side.

“They love it, they love these Irish lads coming out and banging field goals over from all sorts of distances.”

For Leader, it is no coincidence that the players he discovers, nurtures and advises have found an affinity with the specific kicking positions in American football.

“The ball-striking ability we have in Ireland is unparalleled and it’s unique what we have here,” he said.

The IPP has offered a pathway but the NFL is a ruthless business too. McAtamney lasted five games in the league before two missed extra-point attempts in the Giants’ 33-32 defeat by the Denver Broncos saw him unceremoniously cut.

Smyth has a 75% success rate in field goals so far in his career with the Saints, making 12 of 16 attempts, but this month told BBC Sport NI’s GAA Social podcast he knows he will need to improve just to stay in the league.

Leader, however, has no doubts over Smyth’s potential for longevity.

“Charlie’s been phenomenal and he’s always looking to get better and that’s the mentality of someone who’s elite,” he said.

“It’s the mental capacity that is the separator – how you can go out there, week in and week out, producing at a high level in a ruthless sport. But Charlie is also going to be the first of many. I can guarantee that.”

Recent big moves at college level in the off-season would suggest Leader might be right.

Conor McAneney, from Plumbridge in County Tyrone, has just transferred from Quincy to Florida State, while Paddy McAteer, from Mullaghbawn in County Armagh, is heading to the Indiana Hoosiers – the newly crowned College championship winners.

Little more than a year ago, Lorcan Quinn, an All-Ireland winning Gaelic footballer with Tyrone, was working on the roads, laying Wi-Fi and telecom cables. As kicker for Marshall University, he made his debut in front of 80,000 against the Georgia Bulldogs.

“I’m in the middle of it out there and I think it’s crazy,” he says.

In his first year playing NCAA football, Quinn broke Marshall’s record for the most field goals in a single season with 21 successful kicks, had the most successful 50+ attempts (four) and recorded an 86% touchback rate, the second highest in all college football.

That piqued the interest of Alabama, one of the college game’s traditional big beasts, and he will kick for the Crimson Tide in the 2026 season.

Inspired by Smyth’s emergence at the Saints, he now wants to follow him into the NFL.

“I look up to him even though I am probably a couple of months older than him,” Quinn says.

“He’s inspiring loads of lads here. He’s made it possible when before it would have seemed unlikely.

Quinn would appear right now to be the most likely candidate to eventually make that extra step up to the NFL, but he is just one of more than half a dozen hopefuls from Irish shores already making the grade at college level.

And it is not just the kickers.

While Dan Whelan became the first ever Irish-born punter in the NFL when he was signed by the Green Bay Packers in 2023 and has since gone on to become one of the best in his position in the NFL, Adam McCann-Gibbs, from County Down, hopes to join him one day soon.

The talented 18-year-old will be punting for North Carolina this coming year, which means playing under the guidance of eight-time Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick.

He is set to make hie debut in familiar surroundings with the Tar Heels opening the 2026 season at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin against TCU in the College Classic this August.

“There’s a lot of pressure – you have seen the extremes with what’s happened to Jude and getting cut,” said McCann-Gibbs.

“But my aspiration is simply to succeed by being the best version of myself.

Manchester United’s Patrick Dorgu is likely to be out for a number of weeks after injuring his hamstring during Sunday’s 3-2 win at Arsenal.

The 21-year-old, who lashed in United’s second goal from the edge of the box, limped off in the closing stages of the match with what interim head coach Michael Carrick hoped was cramp.

It is more significant than that but sources say the Denmark international is still being assessed and the timescale for his absence is not clear.

The in-form Dorgu, who joined United as a wing-back from Italian club Lecce 12 months ago, has excelled in an advanced left-sided attacking role under Carrick, and also scored in the previous win over Manchester City.

United have eight Premier League games before the March international break, when Dorgu is expected to be involved for Denmark in the World Cup play-offs.

Dorgu’s absence could lead to a greater role for Matheus Cunha, who has started United’s past two games on the substitutes’ bench but scored the winner against Arsenal.

Phil McNulty, chief football writer

Dorgu’s absence for the next few weeks is the first cloud to appear on Carrick’s bright new horizon at Manchester United.

Dorgu, who struggled to establish him at Old Trafford following a £25m move from Lecce in February 2025, has flourished since Carrick succeeded sacked Ruben Amorim.

The 21-year-old who was on the margins for so long, has played a key role in Carrick’s opening victories in the derby against Manchester City at home and away to Premier League leaders Arsenal with goals in both games, including a spectacular 25-yard strike in the 3-2 victory at Emirates Stadium.

Dorgu has been utilised in an advanced left-sided attacking position and has been a revelation as United have been transformed since Carrick’s arrival.

The Hundred’s inaugural player auction will be held in London on 11 and 12 March.

For the first five editions of the competition, players were allocated to teams via a draft system with a set of salary tiers.

But following substantial private investment in The Hundred, players not already signed or retained will now have their team and pay set by an auction.

The shift to a system similar to the one used in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been driven by new investors in the eight city-based franchises.

Auctions are a feature of a number of T20 franchise leagues, with the IPL holding one since its inception in 2008, but this will be the first major instance in UK sporting history.

Four of The Hundred’s sides are now part-owned by groups that also control franchises in the IPL, which is reflected in the new team names of MI London, Sunrisers Leeds and Manchester Super Giants. The fourth, Southern Brave – backed by Delhi Capitals – have retained their original name.

Squads will be made up of between 16 to 18 players, while there is a salary cap limit along with a salary collar, a minimum amount teams must spend.

The salary pot in the men’s competition for 2026 has risen by 45% to £2.05m per side, and the fund for women’s teams has increased by 100% to £880,000.

The minimum salary for a female player has also risen by 50% to £15,000, while the number of overseas players permitted in both competitions increases from three to four.

Fixtures for the 2026 edition of The Hundred have also been announced.

The opening men’s and women’s double-header will take place on 21 July at The Oval between MI London v Sunrisers Leeds, two franchises with IPL ownership links.

A total of 64 matches take place in the group stage, split equally between the men’s and women’s competitions.

The final round of group fixtures will be played on 12 August, with the Eliminator two days later and the final on Sunday, 16 August.

Both the Eliminator and final will have reserve days in place in the event of bad weather.

The Hundred’s inaugural player auction will be held in London on 11 and 12 March.

For the first five editions of the competition, players were allocated to teams via a draft system with a set of salary tiers.

But following substantial private investment in The Hundred, players not already signed or retained will now have their team and pay set by an auction.

The shift to a system similar to the one used in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been driven by new investors in the eight city-based franchises.

Auctions are a feature of a number of T20 franchise leagues, with the IPL holding one since its inception in 2008, but this will be the first major instance in UK sporting history.

Four of The Hundred’s sides are now part-owned by groups that also control franchises in the IPL, which is reflected in the new team names of MI London, Sunrisers Leeds and Manchester Super Giants. The fourth, Southern Brave – backed by Delhi Capitals – have retained their original name.

Squads will be made up of between 16 to 18 players, while there is a salary cap limit along with a salary collar, a minimum amount teams must spend.

The salary pot in the men’s competition for 2026 has risen by 45% to £2.05m per side, and the fund for women’s teams has increased by 100% to £880,000.

The minimum salary for a female player has also risen by 50% to £15,000, while the number of overseas players permitted in both competitions increases from three to four.

Fixtures for the 2026 edition of The Hundred have also been announced.

The opening men’s and women’s double-header will take place on 21 July at The Oval between MI London v Sunrisers Leeds, two franchises with IPL ownership links.

A total of 64 matches take place in the group stage, split equally between the men’s and women’s competitions.

The final round of group fixtures will be played on 12 August, with the Eliminator two days later and the final on Sunday, 16 August.

Both the Eliminator and final will have reserve days in place in the event of bad weather.