By Shaun Casey

NEW Orleans Saints’ kicker and former Down shot-stopper Charlie Smyth doesn’t see a return to the red and black jersey happening anytime soon as he targets a starting spot as an American football placekicker.

Smyth, who signed a three-year contract with the Saints in March 2024, kicked two field goals for his side as they came from behind for a pre-season 17-17 tie against the Jacksonville Jaguars back in August.

The Mayobridge clubman won an Ulster U-20 title with the Mourne County in 2020, kicking 0-2 in the final against Monaghan, and was also a member of the Down squad that reached the Tailteann Cup final in 2023, where they lost out to Meath.

Although Smyth is always eager to keep an eye on how his club and county are performing back home, he doesn’t seem himself returning to the goals for Mayobridge or Down anytime soon.

“It’s nothing something that I really think of a whole lot right now,” said the 24-year-old. “I have a goal in mind which is to become one of the starting 32 kickers in the NFL and that’s where my mind is at right now.

“I still love Gaelic football; I watch it all the time. I keep in touch with my club and my county to see how things are going. Obviously, Down had a pretty good year in terms of putting up a really good showing in the Sam Maguire, hopefully they can get back into it.

“It’s mad that they could end up back in the Tailteann Cup based off of their growth. I’ll never turn my back on Gaelic football, and I do think about being back playing for Down but at the end of the day that’s not my goal.”

Smyth does keep in touch with Down boss Conor Laverty and shared a kicking session with Mourne coach Marty Clarke when he was back home during the summer.

“Me and Lav keep in touch, he’d send the odd picture here and there of his kids or whatever,” Smuth added. “Even if I ever needed anything back home, I’d ask him, and he would do it no bother.

“I actually kicked with Marty Clarke in Mayobridge just before I went out to the States, he’d been on to me for a while trying to arrange a time to kick and it’s hard to kick on grass fields with an American football between January and March.

“I got a good kick with him in the summer, and I think he loved it as well obviously with his Australian Rules background. He’s always been very curious about other ball sports, and we had a good time.

“He joked as well that he hopes he doesn’t see me but he hopes he does back with Down but Ronan Burns has been playing pretty well in nets too, so I think Down are pretty set there for now.”

When back on home soil, Smyth got the opportunity to witness Down in full throttle against Galway in the preliminary quarter-final stage of the All-Ireland series when they ran the 2024 All-Ireland finalists all the way.

“I was at the Galway game; I was back home for it and got to see it. Down put up a mighty fight that day and just came up a little short but those are probably the days that experience matters.

“Down are obviously a little bit less experienced against the bigger teams but that’s something that they can take forward and hopefully get back into the Sam Maguire against those bigger teams and take a scalp.”