The ‘24/25 NFL Football season will have an Irish flavour to it. With the 40 year wait over, we once again have an Irishman playing in the NFL. Now that the floodgates are open, expect a deluge.
Tadgh Leader is a former pro kicker, from Galway, who identifies, shapes and produces talent on behalf of the NFL. He has been tasked with not only supplying Irish prospects to the NFL Combine, he must also conduct a nationwide search to find a star kicker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who’s Irish American owners, The Rooney family, are convinced that the next NFL All star kicker will be an Irishman.
‘Punt’ follows 4 high profile athletes ranging from GAA all stars to professional rugby players, as they re-train and attempt to get drafted to the NFL. Behind the scenes at the NFL combine and fly on the wall throughout the Steelers nationwide search for talent on home soil, ‘Punt’, will uncover just how transformative a move stateside would be; and exactly what it will take to get there.
With an NFL game announced for the 2025 season, the rise and appetite for the game here in Ireland at the minute seems insatiable.
Told through the lens of a kicking coach, Tadhg Leader, who is looking to help make young Irishmen’s dream come true on the very altar where his fell short.
Main Characters in order of importance:
Tadhg Leader
Driving force behind the surge of Irish participation in ‘America’s Game’.
Tadhg is working 90 hour weeks trying to make his failed dream a reality for others. He is opening up the pathway and sending Irishmen west. Travels the road both sides of the Atlantic the whole time in search for the next big thing. We hear crumbs of his failed attempt into the NFL and how it’s propelled him onto opening up the pathway for others. Tadhg is the essence of entrepreneurism and shows how with a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck you can make your vision come to life.
Rory Beggan
The most high profile GAA star featured in the show, Rory is one of the pioneers in this new age of Irish kickers looking to make it to the United States. Walking away from an all star career with Monaghan, he very nearly makes it onto an NFL team.
Charlie Smyth
Charlie makes it onto an NFL roster directly from a GAA dressing room in Maybridge, forgoing the traditional route of an NCAA college team. Super focused, very talented, Charlie impresses in the combine and lands on the New Orleans Saints team.
Mark Jackson
The Wicklow keeper who reached 100 intercounty points recently, Mark was drafted into the Pittsburgh Steelers rookie camp but was release before the season began.
Darragh Leader
Former rugby pro (Connacht) and Tadhg’s brother, injury scuppered his chances on the eve of the combine, he tried a sideways route into the NFL via Europe’s top league, the European League of Football (ELF). He now works for Tadhg in Leader Kicking.
Ross Bolger
The College kid, the first who came through Tadhg’s ranks, we follow him from signing terms with a college to graduating. Next stop, NFL? He is in a way the catalyst to everything else that happened – he put Tadhg on the map as a coach capable of finding talent.
CREW:
Directed and Produced by Darragh Bambrick for Brick Films
Commissioning Editor for RTE: Colm O’Callaghan
Shooting Director: Lee Murray
Editor Malcolm Maloney
Charlie Smyth
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie
