By Michael Preston

Charlie Smyth has waited patiently. Having spent almost two seasons on the practice squad of the New Orleans Saints, the 24-year-old Irishman from County Down has finally realized his dream of kicking in the NFL.

The Saints might have lost on the road against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, but Smyth was his team’s success story, making an impressive 56-yard field goal with his first-ever kick on his NFL debut, and a successful onside kick. The league average for recovering onside kicks is 4.7% and more than a quarter of field goals from more than fifty yards are unsuccessful.

“Whenever you're in that situation, those juices flow,” said Smyth of his debut kick. “You just can't replicate that when you're kicking on your own. Whenever you get that, it's all about fueling that into something that's going to be a positive impact on you. I use it to swing harder.”

Saints head coach Kellen More was also impressed by the performance of the former Gaelic football goalkeeper, who was awarded a game ball for his success.

“Charlie, I thought, kicked really well,” said Moore. “Big-time field goal. The onside kick obviously was really well-kicked. Phenomenal kick there and put us in a position to have a chance at the end.

“Charlie’s earned this opportunity. We have a lot of confidence in him. He obviously has the leg to make some big-time kicks.”

Smyth’s chance to wear the black and gold came after second-year kicker Blake Grupe was cut having missed his eighth field goal of the season a week earlier. Smyth beat off the challenge of free agent kicker Cade York, brought in to compete for the open spot, and learned on Friday night that he would become the latest and only third Irish-born kicker to play in the NFL.

Smyth hails from Mayobridge, a small village of barely a thousand people and was poised to become a primary school teacher while pursuing a burgeoning Gaelic football career that had already won him Ulster Under 20 Championship honors. His dream of playing in the NFL prompted him to write a letter to the NFL, asking for a tryout.

“They never replied!” he laughs. “I don't know what I was thinking. I was a big fan of the sport, I was 18 at the time and I never watched college football, so I thought I could just go straight to the NFL. I was very naïve.”

Smyth considered crossing the Atlantic to play with a US-based GAA teams and planned to post videos of himself on YouTube kicking American footballs on a high school field. Before he could follow that route, Smyth saw a post on social media from Irish kicking coach Tadhg Leader seeking potential kickers. Initially Smyth failed to make the cut as Leader prepared to recommend a group suitable for the International Player Pathway (IPP) program, which had just opened up to specialists.

“He had good leg talent, but a lot of guys in Ireland have that and can make 55-yarders,” remembers Leader. “Charlie wasn’t among the best at that point, but he had the drive to make it happen.

“Any opportunity to get better he jumped at and trained by himself and sent me videos. I thought he had a legitimate shot to make it. There was something there to invest in.”

Smyth was soon enrolled in the IPP and after an intensive period of preparation found himself splitting the uprights at the NFL Combine. He kicked a 60-yarder on his first pro day. The pipe dream was becoming a reality. Smyth became the first ever GAA player to sign with an NFL team having never even played a game of American football.

When his chance came for the first time in the 2024 preseason, Smyth nailed a 37-yarder with eight seconds to play to beat the Arizona Cardinals.

“I thought that if I ever got the opportunity to translate kicking a GAA football to an American football, I would have the tools to do it,” he recalls. “One of my biggest assets is my pop, the initial power that I have in my kick and now my craft has really improved over the past eighteen months. Any time I’m put in a situation to make a kick, I expect to go out and make it and that’s the standard for the NFL.”

And that mentality is the intangible quality that sets Smyth apart from many other hopefuls. There’s no fear of being out there with the game on the line, just determination.

His preseason playing time in 2025 was limited to cameos with a handful of kickoffs, two extra points and four field goals. His execution was flawless, converting impressively from 52 and 50 yards and from 40 and 23 yards.

“I really sought his out and when you have a dream and you can manifest it, it’s worth working for,” he adds. “I’ve put my life on hold for this. I’ve made sure I’m in the best physical shape; I’ve just focused on every single detail.”

Now Smyth has an opportunity to prove he belongs in the NFL as the Saints travel to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday then return home to the Caesars Superdome on December 14.