It's big pressure, but Jude's ready to kick on

HOW MCATAMNEY IS BREAKING GROUND IN THE NFL

- Karl O'Kane

NEW York Giants field goal kicker Jude McAtamney always had a big boot on him.

But it’s a long way from Davitt Park in Swatragh to the MetLife Stadium in the Big Apple.

McAtamney (26) — the youngest of seven boys in a family of eight — recently became the first Irish-born player to start an NFL game since Neil O'Donnell did it 39 years ago for the St. Louis Cardinals.

It’s a source of great pride to the McAtamaney family. “There's a good handful of us,” says Jude's older brother Conor, the former Derry senior who recently jetted out along with brother Gary to see Jude kick for the Giants against the Philadelphia Eagles.

“There's John, Mark, Gary, me in the middle, Paul, Niall, Ciara — and Jude is the ween of the house.

"From a young age he'd have shown to have a big kick on him from the dead ball. As soon as he was on to the (Swatragh) seniors he was kicking a lot of the frees and 45s for us. He would have been walking up and stroking them over.

“Plenty of metres on them afterwards, where if one of us went to hit it, we'd have to have given it everything we've got and it would just have went over the bar.

“He had the ability to stroke the ball really well. He obviously thought one day 'I must go and make the most of this talent'. He's went and done that.”

From a kicking school in Australia to Chowan High School in North Carolina, big New Jersey college side Rutgers and finally the Giants, McAtamney has been at this over five years now.

There are only 32 field goal kicking places in the NFL and they are among the most pressurised roles in any sport.

McAtamney was kicking in the 34-17 win over current Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, at Met Life Stadium last week, nailing four extra-point kicks.