Michael Arthur Foley (14 December 1928 – 28 October 2019) was an
Irish hurler who played as a goalkeeper for the
Wexford senior team.
Born in
Enniscorthy,
County Wexford
County Wexford ( ga, Contae Loch Garman) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was based on the historic Gaelic territory of Hy Kinsella (''Uí Ceinns ...
, Foley first arrived on the inter-county scene at the age of seventeen when he first linked up with the Wexford minor team. He joined the senior panel during the
1946–47 league. Foley later became a regular member of the starting fifteen, and won two
All-Ireland medals, three
Leinster medals and one
National Hurling League
The National Hurling League is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition featuring teams from Ireland and England. Founded in 1925 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation within the l ...
medal. He was an All-Ireland runner-up on one occasion.
As a member of the
Leinster inter-provincial team on a number of occasions, Foley won one
Railway Cup
The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...
medal. At club level he was a seven-time
championship medallist with
St Aidan's
St Aidan's is a 355 hectare (877 acres) nature park located between Leeds and Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. The land was formerly an opencast coal mining area that was flooded in 1988, after the riverbank collapsed. Repairs and remedia ...
.
Foley retired from inter-county hurling following the conclusion of the
1957 championship. He died in the United States in October 2019.
Playing career
Club
Foley played his club
hurling
Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...
with his local
St Aidan's
St Aidan's is a 355 hectare (877 acres) nature park located between Leeds and Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. The land was formerly an opencast coal mining area that was flooded in 1988, after the riverbank collapsed. Repairs and remedia ...
club, with whom he won senior
county titles in 1946, 1947, 1952, 1953, 1954 and 1956. His team mates at the club included hurler of the year (and later "team of the century" inductee)
Nick O'Donnell.
Inter-county
Beginnings
Foley first played for Wexford as a member of the minor team in 1946. After leaving the minor ranks, he was added to the Wexford senior team and made his championship debut in the quarter-finals of the 1947 Leinster Championship in a 3–12 to 2–10 victory over Laois.
Bobby Rackard and
Padge Kehoe also made their championship debuts in the same game. Foley did not consistently maintain his position in the team however. After Wexford's 6–7 to 3–4 defeat to Galway in the
1950-51 National Hurling League
Year 195 ( CXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scrapula and Clemens (or, less frequently, year 948 ''Ab urbe cond ...
final, Foley was dropped from the starting team and squad for the duration of the
1951 hurling championship. Horeswood's Paddy Shannon, Rathnure's Jim Rackard, and UCD's Ray Brennan were tried as alternative replacements. Wexford went on to make the All-Ireland Final that year, but lost on a scoreline of 7–7 to 3–9 to
Tipperary. Foley was then reinstated as first choice goalkeeper in the
1951 Oireachtas Cup Final victory over Kilkenny.
Billy Rackard in his 1996 book 'No Hurling at the Dairy Door' wrote:
:''"In the league final against Galway, an unfortunate event happened which had an unsettling effect on our team. Our star goalkeeper, Art Foley, appeared to lose his nerve on that occasion, and there were several attempts to find a suitable replacement, one being my brother Jim who played in the Leinster final. Ray Brennan, a Wexford native, was giving outstanding displays in goal for UCD around that time. He was brought in for the All-Ireland semi-final and final. Although Brennan was a fine goalkeeper, too much was expected of him, especially in the final. In retrospect, it was a mistake to drop Foley, a brilliant goalkeeper who later proved his worth in no uncertain fashion."''
Early career
After back-to-back Leinster defeats over the next two years, Wexford faced
Dublin in the 1954 decider. A 8–5 to 1–4 victory gave Foley his first
Leinster medal. A record crowd of 84,856 attended the subsequent All-Ireland decider on 5 September 1954 with
Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
providing the opposition. Wexford had a four-point lead with seventeen minutes left to play, however, history was against Foley's side when
Johnny Clifford scored the winning goal for Cork with just four minutes left. A narrow 1–9 to 1–6 victory secured a third successive All-Ireland for Cork.
In 1955, Wexford continued their provincial dominance with Foley collecting a second Leinster medal following a 5–6 to 3–9 defeat of
Kilkenny
Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512.
Kilken ...
in a replay of the Leinster final.
Galway, who had been given a bye to the final without playing a game, provided the opposition in the subsequent All-Ireland final on 4 September 1955. At half-time, Galway led by 2–5 to 2–3 courtesy of two goals from eighteen-year-old
Paddy Egan
Paddy may refer to:
People
*Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname
*An List of ethnic slurs#P, ethnic slur for an Irishman
Birds
*Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon
*Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird ...
. A goal by
Tim Flood nine minutes from the end clinched a 3–13 to 2–8 victory and a first
All-Ireland medal for Foley. It was Wexford's first All-Ireland win in forty-five years.
All-Ireland-winning save
Foley added a
National Hurling League
The National Hurling League is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition featuring teams from Ireland and England. Founded in 1925 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation within the l ...
medal to his collection in 1956 as Tipperary were beaten by 5–9 to 2–14. The subsequent championship campaign saw Wexford reach the provincial final once again. A narrow 4–8 to 3–10 defeat of Kilkenny gave Foley his third successive Leinster medal. Galway were beaten in the All-Ireland semi-final, allowing Wexford to advance to an All-Ireland final meeting with Cork on 23 September 1956. A key moment in Foley's career came in the
dying minutes of that game. With seconds remaining in the final, and Wexford holding onto a two-point lead, the ball broke to
Christy Ring and he headed straight for goal with the Wexford back line in pursuit. When he got to the 21-yard line he let off a shot that was set to rattle the back of the net, but the shot was somehow blocked by Foley and then cleared by him too. Ring remarked in an interview many years later; "''When I got through I thought I had it, but Foley had other ideas, and fair play to him he made a great save''." According to
Martin Codd's 2005 book ''The Way I Saw It'', once the sliotar had been cleared, Ring raced in and grabbed Foley by the hair and said "''You little black bastard you've beaten us''". Foley replied "''It's about so and so time someone did''" before both men shook hands and Ring congratulated him on his save. Within a minute the ball dropped into Foley again and after it was cleared it made its way up the pitch and was buried in the back of the Cork net by
Nicky Rackard giving Wexford a 2–14 to 2–8 victory.
It was Foley's second All-Ireland medal.
Retirement
In 1958, Foley was on a tour with the Wexford team in
New York City when he decided to end his inter-county career and stay in the
United States.
Inter-provincial
Foley was selected for the
Leinster inter-provincial team as goalkeeper in 1956. A 5–11 to 1–7 victory over
Munster
Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...
gave Foley a
Railway Cup
The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...
medal.
Honours
Team
;St. Aidan's
*
Wexford Senior Hurling Championship (7): 1946, 1947, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1957
;Wexford
*
All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship
The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship, known simply as the All-Ireland Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-county hurling competition i ...
(2):
1955
Events January
* January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama.
* January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.
* January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...
,
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...
*
Leinster Senior Hurling Championship (3):
1954
Events
January
* January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany.
* January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting.
* January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...
,
1955
Events January
* January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama.
* January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.
* January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...
,
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...
*
National Hurling League
The National Hurling League is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition featuring teams from Ireland and England. Founded in 1925 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation within the l ...
(1):
1955–56
;Leinster
*
Railway Cup
The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...
(1): 1956
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foley, Art
1928 births
2019 deaths
All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship winners
Hurling goalkeepers
Leinster inter-provincial hurlers
St Aidan's hurlers
Wexford inter-county hurlers