Jude McAtamney, from Swatragh in Co Derry, has become the first-ever Irish-born person to play for the NFL's New York Giants.
McAtamney must have brought a bit of the luck of the Irish to Big Blue as they defeated the Detroit Lions 14-3 on Thursday night for their preseason opener at Met Life Stadium in New Jersey.
While he's the first Irish-born player for the Giants, he's hardly the first Irish-born player in the NFL. According to Pro Football Reference, the other Irish-born NFL players are Daniel Whelan, Neil O'Donoghue, John Sinnott, Adrian Young, Tom Graham, Bob Nash, France Fitzgerald, Brian McGrath, Mickey Fallon, Con O'Brien, and Birtie Maher.
August 9, 2024: Jude McAtamney makes his NFL debut with the New York Giants. (New York Giants)
McAtamney, a former Gaelic football player who helped Derry win the inaugural Ulster Under-20 Football Championship in 2018, was signed as a rookie free agent by the New York Giants back in May through the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program.
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He told IrishCentral in July that being selected by the Giants was the culmination of four years of hard work which were spurred by a "light bulb moment" after encountering Georgia Tech punter and Co Kerry native David Shanahan in May 2020.
After a year of training and repurposing the kicking skills he had learned through the GAA for American football, McAtamney received a scholarship for Chowan University, a Division 2 school in North Carolina.
"When people found out at home that I was going away, they thought I was mad because I just came off a decent enough year with Derry under 20s," McAtamney told IrishCentral.
"It was my last year (as an under-20) and I was hoping to maybe get onto the senior squad after that.
"Then I left to go after kicking, and everyone's like, 'What the f*ck's this guy doing'."
After a season as the primary placekicker and kickoff specialist at Chowan, McAtamney was traded to Rutgers for the 2022 - 2023 seasons.
While at Rutgers, he impressed on his Pro Day, the most common source of player recruitment in the NFL, where he caught the attention of the New York Giants.
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McAtamney went on to tell IrishCentral he has carried the "nuts and bolts" of kicking over from Gaelic football, but noted that he has had to learn the mental side of playing American football.
The Derry kicker emphasized the importance of being mentally sharp on game day, stating that American football games are "98% mental" as a placekicker.
"I do my warm-up and I might not get a kick again on the field for another two hours," McAtamney said.
"And when you get that chance to kick again in two hours time, you have to take it. There's no do-over."
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