Cornelius Joseph Connor Dennis "Neil" O'Donoghue (born 18 January 1953) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

placekicker. He played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) from 1977 to 1985 with the Buffalo Bills, the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

, and the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

. At 6'6", he is the tallest kicker in NFL history. Until 2023 he remained the most recent Irish-born American to have played in the NFL, when

Daniel Whelan Daniel Whelan (born February 10, 1999) is an Irish professional American football punter for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at UC Davis and was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undraf ...

was selected as punter for the Green Bay Packers.

Early life

Growing up in

Clondalkin Clondalkin ( ; ) is a suburban town situated 10 km south-west of Dublin city centre, Ireland, under the administrative jurisdiction of South Dublin. It features an 8th-century round tower that acts as a focal point for the area. Clondal ...

, his father Michael played for the

Ireland national field hockey team Ireland national field hockey team may refer to: * Ireland men's national field hockey team * Ireland women's national field hockey team The Ireland women's national field hockey team is organised by Hockey Ireland and represents both the Republi ...

Gaelic Football

Playing for

Round Towers GAA (Clondalkin) Round Towers (Irish: ''Cumann an Chloigthí, Cluain Dolcáin'' ) is a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) associated with the Dublin County Board club based in Clondalkin, County Dublin. The club plays the Gaelic games of Gaelic football, hur ...

, he was described as one of the best juvenile players they produced. He played U13 Football at the age of eight and won an U13 League Final against St Pats Palmerstown in 1965.

Association football

O'Donoghue made his

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

debut for Shamrock Rovers as a replacement for Damien Richardson at Sligo Rovers on 17 October 1971. In his second League game he scored his first goal at

Glenmalure Park Glenmalure Park, often simply known as Milltown, was a football stadium on the Southside of Dublin city in Ireland. Located in the suburb of Milltown, it was home to Shamrock Rovers from 1926 to 1987, when it was sold to property developers b ...

against Limerick on 31 October. He made a total of 16 appearances including two each in the

Texaco Cup The Texaco Cup, officially known as the International League Board Competition, was an association football competition started in 1970, involving sides from England, Scotland, and Ireland that had not qualified for European competitions. It wa ...

and the FAI Cup scoring 3 goals. In February 1978 he returned home at the end of the American football season to play for Shelbourne

American football

O'Donoghue first went to the United States to play soccer for Saint Bernard College. He was awarded the first soccer scholarship to the States given to an Irish person. When the school's soccer program closed, he transferred to Auburn University and became the starting placekicker, after watching only three American football games in his life, for the

Auburn Tigers football The Auburn Tigers football program represents Auburn University in the sport of American college football. Auburn competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division ...

team. O'Donoghue's 57-yard field goal against Tennessee in 1976 still remains tied for the record for the longest field goal in Auburn history. He received All-American honors in 1976. O'Donoghue was selected in the fifth round of the 1977 NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills, but was cut five games into the 1977 season after making only two of six field goal attempts. After lengthy immigration problems, he was picked up by the

in 1978. The Bucs had joined the league in 1976 and had compiled a 2–26 record in their first two years. O'Donoghue played for two years with the Bucs helping them improve to a 15–17 by converting 55 of 64

point after touchdown The conversion, try (American football, also known as a point(s) after touchdown, PAT, or (depending on the number of points) extra point/2-point conversion), or convert (Canadian football) occurs immediately after a touchdown during which the sc ...

attempts and 24 of 43 field goals attempts. In 1980 O'Donoghue replaced Steve Little as the kicker for the

. He missed a potential game-winning kick against the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

in the last game of the 1984 season that would have sent his Cardinals to the playoffs, and missed three field goal attempts in overtime of a

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...

game against the New York Giants during the 1983 season, resulting in a 20–20 tie. Even with a host of missed attempts, in 1984 O'Donoghue still tied the long-standing Cardinals record for most points in a season, which at the time was 117. In his NFL career, he had a field goal success rate of 59.3%. www.pro-football-reference.com
/ref> O'Donoghue is the most recent Irish-born player in the NFL.

Personal life

After the NFL, O'Donoghue sold real estate for a few years, then got into car sales. He is currently living in Clearwater, Florida and is a car salesman. O'Donoghue was the only member of his family to emigrate to the US and become an American Citizen. His older brother, Coli, is a partner at an architectural firm based out of Dublin, Ireland. O'Donoghue married his first wife, Laura, while playing for Tampa Bay. They lived in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, and had one daughter, Daeja. They divorced in the late 80s. He remarried shortly after to his second and current wife, Monica, and currently reside in Clearwater, Florida. They have two children, Neil and Courtney.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odonoghue, Neil 1953 births Living people American football placekickers Auburn Tigers football players Buffalo Bills players Drumcondra F.C. players League of Ireland players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players St. Louis Cardinals (football) players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Association footballers from Dublin (city) Irish players of American football Irish emigrants to the United States Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Footballers who switched code Men's association football players not categorized by position People from Clondalkin Sportspeople from South Dublin (county) Men's association football players that played in the NFL