NCAA College Cheerleading
—Conal Fagan, Irish-born Notre Dame Cheerleader
Conal Fagan was born in Derry, and having excelled at soccer, won a soccer scholarship to USA, choosing Notre Dame, the famous Irish Catholic College in South Bend, Indiana, near Chicago, where he started studying Political Science and Peace Studies. His College roommates thought it would hilarious if a real Irishman was a Notre Dame Fighting Irish Leprechaun, the mascot of the College Football team. He tried out and got on the cheerleading squad.
NCAA Football Standings
NCAA Division 1 FBS Independents 2018-19
| W | L | PF | PA | |
| Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 12 | 1 | 408 | 237 |
| Army Black Knights | 11 | 2 | 426 | 230 |
| Brigham Young Cougars | 7 | 6 | 354 | 278 |
| Liberty Flames | 6 | 6 | 399 | 442 |
| Massachusetts Minutemen | 4 | 8 | 394 | 515 |
| New Mexico State Aggies | 3 | 9 | 303 | 496 |
| Date | Home Team | Away Team | ||
| Cotton Bowl | ||||
| 29.12.2018 | Clemson Tigers | 30 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 3 |
NCAA Division 1 FBS Independents 2019-20
| W | L | PF | PA | |
| Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 11 | 2 | 478 | 233 |
| Liberty Flames | 8 | 5 | 427 | 365 |
| Brigham Young Cougars | 7 | 6 | 370 | 331 |
| Army Black Knights | 5 | 8 | 370 | 299 |
| New Mexico State Aggies | 2 | 10 | 260 | 492 |
| Massachusetts Minutemen | 1 | 11 | 237 | 632 |
| Date | Home Team | Away Team | ||
| Camping World Bowl | ||||
| 28.12.2019 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 33 | Iowa State Cyclones | 9 |
Report
Conal Fagan was born in Derry, and excelled at soccer. Two teenagers from his school, st. Columb’s in Derry had gone to study in the USA before him, so he was inspired by them to look into it, and got a scholarship from the Sutton Trust, which helps young people from low and middle income families to apply to colleges in America.
Conal chose Notre Dame, the famous Irish Catholic College in South Bend, Indiana, near Chicago, where he started studying Political Science and Peace Studies. His College roommates thought it would hilarious if a real Irishman was a Notre Dame Fighting Irish Leprechaun, the mascot of the College Football team. He tried out and got on the cheerleading squad.
After playing Soccer in his first year he then concentrated on the Cheerleading Leprechaun Mascot Role as well as his studies, training four times a week and lifting weights twice a week. He learned backflips and his role would have been as part of a team whose job is to get the fans to cheer on the team. He will be continuing the role in the 2020-21 season.
Notre Dame finished with a 12-1 Wins-Losses record in 2018-19, only losing to Clemson Tigers in the prestigious Cotton Bowl, and in 2019-20, they went 11-2, triumphing 33-9 in the Camping World Bowl against Iowa State Cyclones, so the Cheerleading squad can’t have let the team down.
References
Websites
[1] English, Jimmy (2019) The Fighting Irishman [Internet] Available from: https://gaelicgridiron.com/2019/04/29/the-fighting-irishman/ [Accessed 19 June 2020]
[2] NCAA (2019) Sandings FBS [All Conferences] [Internet] Available from: https://www.ncaa.com/standings/football/fbs [Accessed 12 February 2019][Year no Longer Available at Address – Available at the wayback Machine Internet] Archive at: Accessed 11 July 2020]
[3] NCAA (2019) 2018-19 College football bowl schedule, scores, TV listings, matchup information [Internet] Available from: https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2019-01-07/2018-19-college-football-bowl-schedule-scores-tv-listings-matchup [Accessed 12 February 2019]
[4] NCAA (2020) Sandings FBS [All Conferences] [Internet] Available from: https://www.ncaa.com/standings/football/fbs [Accessed 11 July 2020]
[5] NCAA (2019) 2019-20 College football bowl schedule, scores, TV listings, matchup information [Internet] Available from: https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2020-01-14/2019-20-college-football-bowl-schedule-dates-times-tv-channels [Accessed 12 February 2019]
Images
[6] English, Jimmy (2019) cfagan4 [Internet] Available from: https://gaelicgridironcom.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/cfagan4.jpg [Accessed 11 July 2020]
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Sean Patrick Fagan, Jimmy English, Todd Zboyan, and Tim Leadingham
About this document
Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the
Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive
First Published: 11 July 2020. Last Updated: 03 October 2024.
(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020
You may quote this document in whole or part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.
