A native of Dublin, Ireland, Neil O’Donoghue’s last field goal in the NFL came with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1985. When Green Bay Packers rookie Daniel Whelan uncorks his first punt or holds for his first kick on Sunday at the Chicago Bears, he will become the first Irish-born player to play in a regular-season game since Oct. 27, 1985 – a span of 13,832 days.
This wasn’t quite the athletic career Whelan planned.
A native of Enniskerry, Ireland, Whelan grew up playing soccer and rugby. An injury in rugby altered his sporting career. His mom’s work-related move to Palm Beach, Calif., changed everything else.
“It was pretty hard,” Whelan said. “I flew there in the summer, so it was about 130 compared to 30 degrees in Ireland. I got tan quick.”
At Rancho Mirage (Calif.) High School, Whelan played three years of tennis and two years of soccer. Then, in a story that’s not all that uncommon in the world of football kickers and punters:
“Towards the end of my sophomore year, going into junior year, the head coach of the football team asked me to try out for kicker,” Whelan recalled. “Tried out, was good at it. Having played rugby, I was used to kicking it off the tee and out of my hands, so it was honing in on all those skills. So, I started going to camps and stuff and, by the end of my senior year, they converted me to punter.”
At UC-Davis, Whelan was the five-year punter. He went undrafted in 2022 and signed with the New Orleans Saints but was released before their first practice of training camp. He went back to California, where he worked at the same hotel and spa as his mom, Montage Laguna Beach.
“I folded towels for about eight hours a day,” he said.
That unglamorous career is over. Whelan got back in the game with the DC Defenders, where he earned all-XFL honors. About a week later, he signed with the Packers to challenge veteran Pat O’Donnell.
After showing a big-time leg throughout the offseason practices and training camp, Whelan won the job.
Ever the pro, O’Donnell left a congratulatory note in Whelan’s locker.
“I appreciated working with him,” Whelan said. “I love him. Great dude. He helped me become what I am right now, so I’m very grateful for him being here.”
There’s more to being a punter than punting the ball. Holding for field goals and extra points is an equally important part of the job. So important that it turned into a bit of workplace role reversal.
“My mom would actually throw me snaps at home,” Whelan said with a smile. “They’re not good but it helps you work on bad-ball drills. Just on my knee in the kitchen, she’s throwing whatever she can. … ‘Hey, mom, can you throw me some snaps. I need to get some holds in,’ and she’d do it. You never know when you’re needed, so got to be ready, right?”
A bunch of wobbly snaps in the kitchen, a couple hundred snaps per day from veteran Packers snapper Matt Orzech on the practice field, a superpowered right leg and priceless game experience in the XFL have Whelan as prepared as possible for what’s ahead.
Whelan admits he’ll be nervous at Chicago – “you can’t not be,” he said – but he believes he’s up to the task.
Having to watch the 2022 NFL season from his couch, knowing he was capable of doing what the league’s other punters were doing, fueled his fire.
“I feel like that was my mindset when I got cut from the Saints and I had to watch the whole season,” Whelan said. “I was like, ‘Really?’ I feel like I’m there but I wasn’t there at the same time, mentally. I think me going to the XFL and doing all that just showed me that I’m really capable of being here. Hard work pays off.”
Hard work makes history, too. O’Donoghue kicked for nine NFL seasons. When the Packers routed the Cardinals in the 1982 playoffs, he made 1-of-4 field-goal attempts on a 21-degree day at Lambeau Field.
O’Donoghue did an interview with NFL Ireland. Paraphrased, his message:
“Just get ready to play in the snow,” Whelan said. “Do your best and I’ll be watching.”
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