Via the ageless Weeshie Fogarty comes an American football success story with a Kerry twist: Over in Colorado, Maurice Fitzgerald's nephew Darragh O'Neill (who was born in Cork, but grew up in the US) was rated as one of the top high school basketball and soccer prospects in the state of Colorado. Well, over the spring, he started training with Colorado Buffaloes football team, having never played organised American football in his life. He started practicing as their punter last spring - the anonymous dude who comes on during 4th downs to kick the ball to the other team. O'Neill's Kerry genes must be strong, because he's ousted two guys on full scholarships to become the Buffaloes starting punter.
"A lot of hard work has paid off," O'Neill told the Denver Post. "I'm ecstatic. I'm proud of myself." (This is either big news or all's quiet in Denver because the Post wrote a full story on O'Neill.
We'll find out next week when Colorado plays Hawaii if O'Neill's right boot is as cultured as his uncle's.
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