Eliza Shanahan didn’t quite understand her youngest son’s preoccupation with American football. David was a talented
multi-sport athlete and appeared to have a future in two of them, Gaelic football (a sport combining elements of soccer, rugby and basketball that is hugely popular in Ireland) and rugby.
But as early as 6 a.m. as a 17-year-old, the schoolteacher’s son left the house on a near-daily basis to walk to the nearby Gaelic football field to work on his American football punting despite the
fact that he had never played the game. On the other hand, at least, he was devoted to the show “Friday Night Lights.”
David would come home here every evening and he’d get a scone and milk and he’d sit out there (watching),” Eliza Shanahan said of the youngest of four children.
He booted footballs purchased on Amazon, used YouTube videos to learn technique and then checked it by
recording himself. When the weather was inclement, Eliza gave David a ride to the field.
Said Eliza Shanahan, “Even some mornings I would get up to take him up there in the pouring rain or something, I just sat there, like, ‘What does he keep doing?’”
