Super Bowl winners’ linebacker coach once worked in Ringaskiddy

IN THE run-up to last week’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas, Cork-born American football podcaster Colum Cronin had the opportunity to ask the star quarter back of the Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, a question during a media scrum.

It was the opening night of a weeklong festival leading up to the gridiron finale in the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

And Colum also had the good luck to meet and chat with a former Ringaskiddy engineer who’s now a linebacker coach with the Kansas City Chiefs and has six Super Bowl rings – the rings are awarded to the players and coaches of the winning team.

Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs play-maker whose throw in the last seconds won his team its second Vince Lombardi Trophy in successive seasons and its third in the last five years, responded to Colum’s question, asking whether his preparations for the Super Bowl were different to his preparations for other games during the season.

“I asked him was it business as usual for the Chiefs and he said: ‘It’s a Super Bowl, it’s never business as usual’ but the Chiefs were trying to keep it as similar as possible to how they approach every game whilst recognizing that it was a Super Bowl,” Colum, who hails from Fermoy and is the presenter of The Irish NFL Podcast show, told The Echo following his return from his week-long adventure in Nevada.

As interesting as Colum’s chat with Pat Mahomes was, he also met Brendan Daly, who’s the linebacker coach for the Chiefs. Previously, he had been a coach with the New England Patriots.

“In total, he has six Super Bowl rings, and a long time ago, he used to be an engineer working in Ringaskiddy – he’s American with Irish heritage and he’s got a really fascinating story.”

Kickers played a key role in the win for the Kansas City Chiefs – and the defeat for the San Francisco 49ers - as the game went into overtime and the Californian team, much to the surprise of almost everyone in the stadium, elected to kick when they won the toss. The subsequent fumble allowed the Chiefs to get possession of the ball and in the last play of the game, Mahomes threw a game- winning pass which was touched down by Mecole Hardman, earning the Kansas City team a three-point victory, 25-22.

“It used to be that kickers needed to be reliable for more than 40 yards, and then it became 45 yards and now it’s gone to 50-55 yards,” said Colum.

“Kicking is hugely important and we’ve [Irish] guys who are going over to the Combine and there’s the beginnings of what hopefully will be a conveyor belt of talent going over to America, both at the college level and the professional NFL level.”

Other possible lessons from Las Vegas for the Irish sports organisations is the successful opening night event which kicked off a week of festivities in Las Vegas.

“This event saw 24,000 fans in the stadium as the players from the Chiefs and the 49ers appeared on the pitch to answer questions from the media,” said Colum.

“If there was an event like this the Wednesday or Thursday before an All Ireland, it could add to the sense of excitement tremendously.”

As well as the Super Bowl, and the umpteen broadcasts Colum and the team produced at the venue, he also took time off to see U2 in concert at The Sphere the Friday before the Super Bowl.

“It was simply amazing to see U2 in such an incredible venue,” he said.

And you can hear more about Brendan Daly and all the others Colum met and interviewed in Las Vegas on his podcast, the Irish NFL Podcast, which is available on all the usual platforms.