Latest news with #BallybodenStEnda's
The 42
22-07-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Former Ballyboden St Enda's goalkeeper signs with NFL's Green Bay Packers
THE NFL'S GREEN Bay Packers have announced the bolt-from-the-blue signing of Dubliner Mark McNamee as their backup kicker ahead of training camp. McNamee, a former Gaelic football goalkeeper with Ballyboden St Enda's, has joined Green Bay following his recent release by Canadian Football League (CFL) outfit BC Lions. The Packers start training camp on Wednesday and currently require a backup kicker behind veteran Brandon McManus. McNamee today joined Green Bay's 91-man off-season roster, for the moment taking the International Player Pathway (IPP) spot previously occupied by Australian kicker Alex Hale. Advertisement Mark McNamee in action for Ballyboden St Enda's. Ballyboden St Enda's Ballyboden St Enda's Hale, who signed with the Packers last year, was cut on Monday after suffering a freak eye injury during a workout. The Packers may still re-sign him when he recovers. In the meantime, McNamee will get the opportunity to showcase his talent and make the backup position his own before the Packers trim their roster ahead of the 2025 season. The six-foot-four, 208-pound Dubliner is a product of Tadhg Leader's 'Leader Kicking' programme and joined the NFL's International Player Pathway scheme only in February of this year. McNamee completed 13 of his 14 field goal attempts at the NFL Combine but was not selected in the NFL Draft — even vastly more experienced kickers coming out of college are more typically signed in free agency after the draft. McNamee, though, entered the CFL's International Draft and was selected by the Vancouver-based BC Lions in the second round. He featured in both of the Lions' preseason games in May, successfully kicking his one field goal attempt in each of them (from 32 yards and 42 yards respectively). However, McNamee was released by the Lions on 1 June. He has now become the second Irishman at the Packers, joining starting punter Dan Whelan who grew up in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, before moving to the States with his family when he was 13. While Whelan is a full-time member of the Packers' roster, McNamee will first aim to emulate the progress of fellow Irish kickers Jude McAtamney and Charlie Smyth who have earned International Player Pathway spots on the practice squads of the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints respectively. Practice-squad players train with with a club's 53-man first-team roster and can be elevated to a matchday squad — up to three times per season in the case of IPP players such as McAtamney and Smyth — in the event of an injury or a loss of form suffered by one of those first-choice players. They are also free to sign a first-team contract with a different franchise. Practice squad players typically earn $12,500 per week — or $225,000 over the course of an 18-week season.
Extra.ie
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Extra.ie
1974 All-Ireland winning Dublin captain Seán Doherty dies aged 78
Sad news in the world of GAA as Dublin's former All-Ireland winning captain Seán Doherty has died at the age of 78 following a short illness. Doherty was a member of the esteemed Dublin side in the 1970s who reached five All-Ireland finals in-a-row between 1974 and 1978. Affectionately know as 'The Doc', Doherty actually first lived in Glenealy, Wicklow as a child before his family settled in Ballsbridge, Dublin. Doherty made a name for himself in South Dublin with Ballyboden St Enda's before making his intercounty debut for Dublin in 1969. Former Dublin captain Seán Doherty as he was inducted into the All-Ireland Kick Fada Hall of Fame in 2014. Pic: Pat Murphy/Sportsfile It was only a few years later in 1973 when Doherty became captain of Dublin after the return of Kevin Heffernan as Dublin manager. Heffernan had been a fan of Doherty's fearless play at full back. He most famously captained Dublin in the 1974 final when the Dubs beat Galway 0-14 to 1-6 in front of over 70,000 people at Croke Park. Dublin had made a comeback in that game after Paddy Cullen saved a Liam Sammon penalty as Doherty helped keep Galway to just two points in the second half before going up the Hogan steps to lift the Sam Maguire. He would then captain Dublin in the All-Ireland final a year later against Kerry, where he infamously took Kerry captain Mickey Ned O'Sullivan out of the game with a rough challenge. However it wasn't enough as Kerry won 2-12 to 0-11 with Pat Spillane lifting the trophy in O'Sullivan's place as he had to go to the hospital. Dublin captain Seán Doherty lifts the Sam Maguire in 1974. Pic: Connolly Collection/Sportsfile Doherty would subsequently lose the captaincy to Tony Hanohoe after the 1975 final but remained a part of the panel until 1979 when he lost his spot before retiring from intercounty play in 1980. Doherty was a plumber by trade and a publican in Rockbrook at the foot of the Dublin Mountains while also managing St Anne's in Dublin and Bray Emmets in Wicklow, leading both to county finals. He had just been a part of two-day trip to Kerry in April, where the players from both Kerry and Dublin celebrated the 50th anniversary of their epic rivalry in the 1970s.
RTÉ News
07-07-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Former Dublin captain Seán Doherty dies
Seán Doherty, who captained Dublin to All-Ireland SFC glory in 1974, has died. Born in Wicklow in 1946, Doherty played his club football with Ballyboden Wanderers, Ballyboden St Enda's, and St Anne's, and led Wanderers to a Dublin Junior Football Championship in 1968. However, the classy full-back will be best remembered in football circles for ending an 11-year drought in the capital when hoisting Sam Maguire aloft after the Metropolitans defeated Galway on a 0-14 to 1-06 scoreline at Croke Park in 1974. An All-Star that same year, Doherty won five Leinster titles and two National Football Leagues as a player and went on to land further All-Ireland SFC titles with Dublin in 1976 and 1977. Dublin's loss to Kerry in the 1978 final was his final appearance in sky blue, although he remained inextricably linked to football in the county and served as a joint-manager of the senior team in 1989 alongside Gerry McCaul and Tony Hempenstall.
BBC News
27-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Irish duo picked for NFL's International Player Pathway
The National Football League has announced that Irishmen Mark McNamee and Ross Bolger will be two of five specialists joining the International Player Pathway (IPP) programme class of moves from gaelic football after previously playing for Dublin club Ballyboden St Enda's while former Laois under-20 gaelic footballer Bolger joins up after a successful season of college football as punter/kicker at Idaho State Wednesday, McNamee and Bolger performed in front of NFL scouts at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis with the hopes of following in the footsteps of former Down gaelic footballer Charlie Smyth, who secured a place on the New Orleans Saints practice squad via the programme in in 2017, the IPP programme aims to provide elite international athletes with the opportunity to compete at the NFL level, improve their skills and ultimately work to earn a spot on an NFL hopes of forging an NFL career remain alive after he signed a new contract with the Saints last month which guarantees him at least another off-season with the November, Derryman Jude McAtamney became the first Irish-born placekicker to feature in a regular season NFL game since 1985 when he made his New York Giants debut in a game against Washington Commanders.#Earlier this month, the NFL confirmed that the first regular season game ever to take in Ireland will be played at Dublin's Croke Park next autumn when the Pittsburgh Steelers will be the host team.
