NFL: Opportunity with New Orleans Saints is ‘stuff of dreams’ for former GAA goalkeeper Charlie Smyth

With last year’s starter in his position, Blake Grupe, taking the earlier kicks in the game, Smyth sat on the sidelines on Saturday unsure if he would get the opportunity to kick a field goal in his Saints debut.

However, with the Cardinals holding a late lead, and the Saints in possession of the ball as time ticked away, he sensed the game would come down to his right foot.

While the sport may still be relatively new to him, it was a scenario he faced many times down the years in his first sporting love, Gaelic football.

“You miss, you lose or you score and you win,” he said. “For that to be my first kick, it was the stuff of dreams. You imagine those scenarios when you’re growing up, last minute of the game scoring a ’45’.

“If I missed that kick people would make assumptions, ‘he can’t handle the pressure’, but I just showed that I can and that’s why it felt so important.”

While the 37-yard distance would be viewed as relatively routine for an NFL kicker, Smyth said he landed an attempt from as long as 66 yards during his warm-ups, with training camp offering an opportunity to show his range to the coaches.

“You have to try and impress out here every day to win a job so that’s what I’ve been doing,” he added.