Galway all-rounder sets his sights on American Football dream

A Galway athlete is chasing his American Dream of making it as a specialist kicker in the NFL, the elite league in America for professional footballers.

Shane McInerney, who played underage Gaelic football in his home town of Ballinasloe and underage soccer for Salthill Devon and Galway United, is now being touted as a potential future specialist kicker in the NFL.

A cousin and nephew of Galway All-Ireland winning hurling legends, father-and-son duo Gearóid and Gerry McInerney, Shane is carving out a sporting niche for himself stateside.

During his varied career, he’s already played soccer professionally in America, Sweden and Australia, and most recently has coached soccer to children and teenagers in a club in Chicago before pivoting to American football.

The 29-year-old has just finished his first season as a college kicker with Peru State College in Nebraska and has been identified as an NFL draft prospect for 2023.

This doesn’t mean he’s going to make it in the top-flight but it does improve his chances and gives him more exposure. “Clubs are going to know about you,” he said.

It was a period of self-reflection during a Covid-19 Lockdown spent in an apartment in Portumna that spurred him to pursue a career in American football.

He’d never played it before this year but was free-taker for Ballinasloe GAA at underage. “I always had a good strike of a ball. This is just a different shape of ball,” he said.

Shane also played professional soccer in the USA, with a college team in New York when he was 19 and spent three years playing in West Palm Beach, Florida.

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