Lar Foley

Lar Foley

Profile shot of Lar Foley
Personal information
Irish name	Liam Ó Foghlú
Sport	Dual player
Football Position:	Full Back
Hurling Position:	Full Back
Born	(1938-11-23)23 November 1938 Dublin, Ireland
Died	4 May 2003(2003-05-04) (aged 64)
Nickname	Lar
Club(s)
Years	Club
1956-1976 1956-1976	St Vincents (H) St Vincents (F)
Club titles
	Football	Hurling
Dublin titles	12	4
Leinster titles	2	0
All-Ireland titles	0	0
Inter-county(ies)
Years	County
c. 1958-1970 c. 1958-1970	Dublin (H) Dublin (F)
Inter-county titles
	Football	Hurling
Leinster Titles	5	1
All-Ireland Titles	2	0

Liam 'Lar' Foley (23 November 1938 – 4 March 2003) was a hurling and Gaelic football player from Dublin, Ireland, who played inter county for Dublin and for the Dublin-based club St Vincents. He won two All-Ireland medals for Dublin in 1958 and 1963, and was named as Texaco Footballer of the Year in 1963.

Biography

Foley lived in Kinsealy in North County Dublin. He and his Brother Des were cereal farmers and the sons of Patrick Foley of PK Foley Ltd - an early transportation Company well known in Dublin.

In the later part of Lar's life he developed a heart condition and died at home in Kinsealy of a heart attack during May 2003.^[1]

Playing career

Lar Foley is known as one of Dublin GAA’s true great players. The St Vincent’s clubman enjoyed a successful career at club, county and provincial levels in both codes, in the process guaranteeing himself a permanent place in GAA folklore. A GAA immortal in every sense of the term, the brilliant dual player was at his prime in the ’60s but his extraordinary career also stretched well into the preceding and succeeding decades. He was awarded Texaco Footballer of the Year for performances in 1963.

Club

Football

Foley never experienced the glory of All-Ireland club final day success - not because the team wasn’t good enough but because the competition didn’t even exist until the tail end of his career. The St Vincent’s side of the 1960s would undoubtedly have been a dominant force at national level but the All-Ireland club championship was only inaugurated in 1970. Having featured on the team beaten by Erin's Hope in the 1956 county final, Lar went on to win a total of twelve Dublin Senior Football Championship, with six wins between 1957 and 1962 and again in 1964, 1966 and 1967 the three in a row between 1970 and 1972. Vincents took on Nemo Rangers in the 1973 final. It went to a replay before the Cork kingpins came out on top, Foley appearing as a substitute in both games. He had retired by the time St Vincent’s won their first All-Ireland title three years later.

Hurling

He also had a successful hurling career with St Vincents, winning four Dublin Senior Hurling Championships, in 1957, 1960, 1962 and 1964.

Inter-county

Football

Foley's first taste of inter-county success came when he lined out at midfield for the 1955 and 1956 All-Ireland minor football finals, in which Dublin defeated Tipperary and Leitrim respectively, and came in as a substitute for the 1963 and 1964 Railway Cup final defeats at the hands of Ulster.

He first came to national attention on the senior team in 1958, when he featured at corner back on the Dublin side that pipped Derry in the All-Ireland senior football final. By the time he collected his second senior All-Ireland medal five years later, Foley had made the No.3 shirt his own and had established a reputation for himself as one of the most formidable full backs in the business. He was never known to become embroiled in rough play and did his utmost to quell any such outbreaks in games that he played. His calming presence often helped referees during difficult and tense encounters.

Lar had his fair share of success at national league level. He had entered the fray as a substitute as Kildare were ousted in the 1957/58 decider and played against Down in the 1961/62 National Football league final. He was also on the Dublin team which defeated Down to win the 'home' final of 1963/64.

Hurling

Like his brother Des and many other St Vincent’s players of that era, he was also already widely acclaimed as a dual-coder of exceptional ability. Both brothers featured (Lar at left corner back) in the 1961 All-Ireland Final when Dublin came agonisingly close to toppling a star-studded Tipperary side, losing by a single point, on a scoreline of 0-16 to 1-12.

Lar met with more luck at interprovincial level in the hurling code, however. He wore the No.4 jersey in three successive Railway Cup hurling finals, 1962–64, collecting winners medals in 1962 and 1964^[2] but losing narrowly to Munster after a replay in the intervening year’s showpiece.

Managerial career

Foley served as Dublin Senior Hurling manager between 1989 and 1993.^[3]

References