Faithful fan: Clara man interviewed live on top American football TV show

An Offaly man's passion for American football led to an impromptu appearance live on one of the sport's top TV shows yesterday (Thursday).

Clara native Darrell Dolan was interviewed for a global audience on Good Morning Football as it broadcast from Dublin ahead of Sunday's NFL meeting of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings in Croke Park.

Good Morning Football airs on the NFL Network in the United States and is also shown on Sky Sports and DAZN in Ireland and the UK.

Darrell is a son of Veronica and John Dolan, with his father well-known for his work as a postman in the Clara area.

He is a fan of Good Morning Football and was watching it at home in Drumcondra when he saw that host Jamie Erdahl was broadcasting live from Temple Bar.

It's not every day that the NFL Network cameras are this close to his home, so Darrell decided he would head into the city centre for a closer look.

"I live in Drumcondra, very close to Croke Park, so it didn't take me long to get in. Jamie Erdahl had a sign asking if anyone from Ireland was a fan of the show. I said, 'I am, I've been watching it for years.' So she called me over and I was chatting away to her then."

Darrell ended up being interviewed live on air, during which he spoke about how his interest in American football began in the 1980s when he started following the San Francisco 49ers team led by quarterback Joe Montana.

He also mentioned on air that he was a native of the Faithful County, pointing out that the 49ers' fans are also known as the Faithful.

When asked whether he needed much persuasion to go on air, he replied: "No, no, I wouldn't be camera shy at all! My wife is the opposite - she was mortified when she heard that I did this!"

The show's host, Erdahl, said she was a big fan of Darrell's Midlands accent, and tweeted afterwards that she had made "a gem of a friend" by encountering him.

Darrell said there's been a great reaction to his appearance on the show, and he's been receiving plenty of text and social media messages since it aired. He is part of an NFL fantasy football group - called 'Come on the Faithful' - which also includes three friends who are originally from Rhode.

In addition to his parents he has two brothers living in Clara and a sister in Geashill. "They're all still in the Midlands. I was the one who went up to college in Dublin, met a Dub, and that was it!" he said

Married to Urusla, he has two teenage daughters, Leah and Saoirse.

Darrell will be in Croke Park on Sunday for the first regular season NFL game ever to be played in Ireland and he said there's a fantastic atmosphere in the city leading up to the big game.

"It's absolutely crazy. The amount of Americans who are over for it is unreal," he said.