Desmond Foley (12 September 1940 – 5 February 1995) was an Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er and hurler of the 1950s and 1960s. He was also a politician and represented

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

Sports

Desmond Foley was born into a farming family at

Kinsealy Kinsealy (officially Kinsaley; ) is an outer suburb of Dublin in Fingal, Ireland. Kinsealy is on the Northside (Dublin), northside of the city, about 13 km from the city centre, on the Malahide Road, in the green belt between the suburbs of ...

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

in 1940. As a young man he showed particular skill at

Gaelic games Gaelic games () are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the most popular of the s ...

, winning four Dublin County Senior

Hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

Championships with the St Vincents GAA club, having earlier captained the school team of

St Joseph's, Fairview St Joseph's, Fairview, sometimes St Joseph's C.B.S., and previously St Joseph's Secondary Christian Brothers' School, is a co-educational Secondary school#Republic of Ireland, secondary school in Fairview, Dublin, Ireland, having been Single-se ...

which brought the All-Ireland Colleges football title to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

for the first time. Foley captained the Dublin minor football team which won the All-Ireland Final in 1958. In 1962 he became the only player in history to play in two provincial

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship () 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 and Ulster GAA teams are co ...

finals, in hurling and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, on the same day, winning medals in both codes for

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

. He won further Railway Cup medals again in 1964 and 1965. Foley was a prominent member of the

Dublin county hurling team The Dublin county hurling team represents Dublin in hurling and is governed by Dublin GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Hurling ...

from 1958 until 1969, playing on the losing side in the 1961 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final. In 1963 he captained the

Dublin county football team The Dublin county football team represents County Dublin, Dublin in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Dublin GAA, the County board (Gaelic games), county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annu ...

which defeated

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

to win the All-Ireland title. He won three All-Star awards, two for football and one for hurling, but never a senior All-Ireland hurling medal. He was a mid-fielder of the highest ranking, particularly noted for his outstanding sportsmanship. His brother Lar Foley was a team colleague, both in hurling and football, through most of his campaigns in the 1950s and 60s and who was also an All-Ireland medal winner for Gaelic football in 1958 and 1963.

Politics

Towards the end of his playing career, Foley became interested in politics and was elected to

as a

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( ; ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish language, Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The official Engli ...

(TD) for the Dublin County constituency at the 1965 general election, and in the Dublin County North constituency at the 1969 general election. He resigned from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party on 4 November 1971, in advance of a confidence motion in Jim Gibbons, whose role in the

Arms Crisis The Arms Crisis was an Irish political scandal in 1970 in which Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney were dismissed as cabinet ministers for alleged involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle arms to the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland. At t ...

he disagreed with. He unsuccessfully contested the 1973 general election in Dublin County North as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

candidate. Des Foley died in

in 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foley, Desmond 1940 births 1995 deaths All-Ireland–winning captains (football) Dual players Dublin inter-county Gaelic footballers Dublin inter-county hurlers Fianna Fáil TDs Gaelic games players from Fingal Irish sportsperson-politicians Members of the 18th Dáil Members of the 19th Dáil Politicians from County Dublin Politicians from Fingal St Vincents (Dublin) Gaelic footballers St Vincents (Dublin) hurlers People educated at St Joseph's, Fairview 20th-century Irish sportsmen