{"id":445104,"date":"2026-05-12T14:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T14:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/445104\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T14:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T14:59:09","slug":"meet-the-irish-teen-set-to-make-his-american-football-debut-in-dublin-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/445104\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Irish teen set to make his American football debut in Dublin \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is like something out of a Hollywood movie. Up to a couple of years ago, Adam McCann-Gibbs wasn\u2019t a fan of American football<\/a> and last year\u2019s Aer Lingus College Football Classic<\/a> was his first live gridiron experience.<\/p>\n

Yet, on August 29th, the 18-year-old from Newry will make his college football debut for the University of North Carolina\u2019s Tar Heels (UNC) against Texas Christian University\u2019s Horned Frogs. At the Aviva Stadium<\/a>, no less.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs people have been saying, it\u2019s like something out of a movie, that you get to come home and hopefully play your first game here as your debut as well,\u201d he smiled.<\/p>\n

A former minor footballer with Down<\/a>, McCann-Gibbs joined UNC as a punter in January. He is a product of the Leader Kicking programme that opened the door for Charlie Smyth\u2019s<\/a> remarkable NFL journey with the New Orleans Saints.<\/p>\n

The rise of Smyth, who made his big breakthrough<\/a> last season, offered a clear reference point. The Mayobridge man, a former goalkeeper for Down, grew up only a short distance from Glenn native McCann-Gibbs.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Armagh\u2019s Paddy McAteer is progressing through the college system. The Mullaghbawn man is preparing for his fourth and final year, having joined Indiana from Troy University.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, there must be something up north,\u201d McCann-Gibbs laughed. \u201cThere are a few Tyrone and Derry lads impressing as well, so it\u2019s great to see the lads doing really well and excelling over in America. It\u2019s all credit to Leader Kicking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DownDown man Charlie Smyth plays for the New Orleans Saints. Photograph: Chris Graythen\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

A freetaker with Glenn, he followed Smyth\u2019s development through the kicking programme run by Tadhg and Darragh Leader with interest before deciding to take a punt himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cCharlie being 10 minutes from me, I was like, \u2018Why not?\u2019,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought I\u2019d just try my hand at it.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I wasn\u2019t very good at the start, but I decided to stick at it and work at it. Repetition over time has made a big difference. It\u2019s obviously very different, kicking an American football, because of the shape of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still feel today that I\u2019m very raw and need to work on stuff, but that\u2019s just going to come over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Charlie Smyth\u2019s foot-perfect NFL debut has put Tadhg Leader\u2019s kicking programme on the mapOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

McCann-Gibbs was excited to meet up with Smyth in March and gathered advice on adapting to the demands of the sport. But the scale of what has happened over the past few months only really landed when he returned to south Down this week.<\/p>\n

Back home for the first time since moving stateside, McCann-Gibbs spent Friday visiting his former schools alongside members of the UNC set-up. The day brought home just how much his life has changed in a short period.<\/p>\n

At St Mary\u2019s Barr Primary School in Glenn, pupils gathered excitedly around the visitors, while later the group visited Abbey CBS in Newry to meet younger students and sports teams.<\/p>\n

\"AdamAdam McCann-Gibbs (right) played for Down in the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship. Photograph: Oliver McVeigh\/Sportsfile <\/p>\n

\u201cThe support the community is giving, they\u2019re really getting behind me, buying tickets for the game at the Aviva and making posters,\u201d said McCann-Gibbs. \u201cIt\u2019s incredible to see your community doing that for you.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have little cousins at the primary school and they were getting photos with all the lads. It\u2019s incredible that you get the opportunity to put your hometown and Ireland on a global stage.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Irish NFL star Charlie Smyth: \u2018The reality is there is no guaranteed money in it\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cYou feel an immense sense of pride doing that. It\u2019s been a nice wee break because your life is a million miles an hour over there. It\u2019s nice to look back and debrief on what\u2019s happened. It definitely has hit home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Family support has also been vital during a time of big change. McCann-Gibbs describes his mother, Cheryl, as his \u201crock\u201d through the move, alongside his father James, sister Ellie and twin brother Mark.<\/p>\n

The family even got the opportunity to spend time with UNC head coach Bill Belichick, one of the most decorated figures in NFL history.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother was always the one who liked baseball and basketball, so he\u2019s all for this,\u201d McCann-Gibbs said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey came over and it was great to show Mark around the place. He loved it and thinks it\u2019s incredible. They know this is a great opportunity to really go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is like something out of a Hollywood movie. Up to a couple of years ago, Adam McCann-Gibbs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[23645,1399,93354,21753,61,60,19147,112],"class_list":["post-445104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-american-football","tag-aviva-stadium","tag-charlie-smyth","tag-down","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}