*Orla Hogan with Seamus the ram. Photograph: Michael McCleary
Relations between Ireland and the United States are said to have benefitted from the 2026 Aer Lingus College Football Classic but so too has the standing of Tuamgraney among NFL followers in North Carolina as the US college football season kicked off.
University of North Carolina Tar Heels secured a narrow 15-10 victory over the TCU Horned Frogs at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday in the Classic which marked a week of engagement between Ireland, Texas and North Carolina.
Broadcast live across the US on ESPN and Disney Plus as well as free-to-air in Ireland on TG4. It attracted an average US audience of 4.9 million viewers on ESPN, with a high of 5.8 million which made it the most-watched Aer Lingus College Football Classic.
18,377 International visitors from 40 different countries, of which 15,252 were from the United States, descended on Dublin, joined by university leaders, political and civic representatives, business executives, academics, students, medical specialists, alumni, marching bands and supporters for the Classic.
Travelling to Dublin was deemed to be too much for the UNC’s live mascot, Rameses. This brought Orla Hogan of Tuamgraney into the equation.
‘More than a Mascot’ is the name of an upcoming documentary on Rameses and a 3am Google search by its Director Broze Jost saw her stumble across Orla. The Hogan family in North Carolina are keepers of the oldest traditions in UNC athletics. The Hogans are the caretakers for Rameses XXII, and every former rendition of UNC football’s living mascot: a real-life Dorset Horn ram with its horns painted Carolina blue to rally fans young and old before Tar Heels games.
Orla is no relation to the Hogans in North Carolina but as Broze discovered is a sheep farmer and was able to provide a stand-in mascot which she christened Seamus for the Dublin classic.
Married to Rossa, Orla donned a Carolina blue quarter-zip sweater and played the role of the UNC-famous Hogans before the Tar Heels’ 15-10 win. She led the Dorset Horn ram she now owns, horns painted blue, wearing Rameses’ blanket brought over by an alumni group and all, by a white rope down the road in front of the Aviva Stadium. The green, white and North Carolina blue patch on her sweater read ‘Seamus’ which is the name she had given to what the group is calling “Rameses’ cousin”.
There was great pride for Orla at having such an involvement, she admitted. “It was wonderful to meet all the Tar Heels fans and they were so happy to see Seamus and for the Rameses to be represented in Ireland, it means a lot to the North Carolina people. From the moment I met him, he was so pleasant, he would look into your eyes, he is a real placid sheep, I got every emotional when I took him out of the cattle box in Temple Bar and to see everyone flock towards him, it was a real emotional experience for me. For the last number of weeks, I’ve been training him but he has been perfect, it is like he knows how to do this all his life, he has been wonderful. The whole thing is so precious and the fact that I am a Hogan, we’re tracing back and we think we have found connections in Co Tipperary, the whole story is wonderful”.
UNC are currently coached by Bill Belichick, who holds the record for most Super Bowl wins (six) as Head Coach. One of UNC’s most famous alumni is Drake Maye, currently lining out as quarterback for the New England Patriots. Clare or Irish relations for the duo have yet to be identified.
