Lar Foley

Infobox GAA dualplayer |

name =Liam Foley
irish =
nickname=Lar
dob=
placeofbirth=Dublin
countryofbirth=Ireland
sport=Gaelic football and Hurling
code=Dual
county=Dublin
province=Leinster
clpositionf= Corner Back
clpositionh= Corner Back
club=St Vincents
clubs=St Vincents (H)
St Vincents (F)
clyears= 1956-1976
1956-1976
clapps(points)=
icpositionf=-
icpositionh=-
icyears=circa 1958-1970
circa 1958-1970
icapps(points)=
counties=Dublin (H)
Dublin (F)

icupdate=(20:30, 18 August 2006 (UTC))
clupdate=(20:30, 18 August 2006 (UTC))
|

Liam "Lar" Foley is a hurling and Gaelic football player who played inter county for Dublin and for the Dublin based club St Vincents.

Biographical Information

Lar Foley lived in Kinsealy in North County Dublin. He was a man of the land as was his Brother Des, they would often farm there lands together. They Were cereal farmers and the sons of Patrick Foley of PK Foley Ltd - an early transportation Company well known in Dublin.

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.

The first time he came to national attention was in 1958, when the then young St Vincent’s star 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.

Like his brother Des (and, indeed, 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 1961 when Dublin came agonisingly close to toppling a star-studded Tipperary side in the All-Ireland senior hurling championship final. Incredibly, the Premier County prevailed only by the narrowest of margins, 0-16 to 1-12.

Lar had his fair share of success at national league level. He played against Down in the 1961/62 national football league final. Four years earlier, he had entered the fray as a substitute as Kildare were ousted in the 1957/58 decider. He was also on the Dublin team which defeated the Mournemen to win the ’home’ final of 1963/64.

He lined out at midfield for the 1955 and ’56 All-Ireland minor football finals, in which the Metropolitans accounted for Tipperary and Leitrim respectively, and came in as a sub for the 1963 and ’64 Railway Cup final defeats at the hands of Ulster.

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 ’62 and ’64 but losing narrowly to Munster after a replay in the intervening year’s showpiece.

Lar Foley didn’t experience 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 great St Vincent’s side of the ’sixties would undoubtedly have been a dominant force at national level but the All-Ireland club championship was only inaugurated in 1970.

Vincents took on Nemo 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.

The St Vincent’s team of the era of Lar and Des Foley was one of the greatest club teams in the history of the Gaelic Athletic Association. Having featured on the team beaten by Erin’s Hope in the 1956 county final, Lar went on to win an incredible total of twelve senior county football championships, six wins between 1957 and 1962 and again in 1964. He went on to gain more football championship wins in 1966 and 1967 the three in a row between 1970 and 1972. He also had an illustrious hurling career with St Vincents with four [Dublin Senior Hurling Championship|Dublin hurling championship wins in 1957, 1960, 1962 and finally in 1964.

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

References

[http://www.hoganstand.com/Dublin/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=9822]

See also

*Dublin GAA
*Dublin GAA Honours
*Dublin Senior Club Football Championship

External links

* [http://www.hill16.ie/ Official Dublin GAA Website]
* [http://www.hill16.ie/viewstoryhill16.asp?mainheading=Word+on+The+Hill&id=2161&viewstory=yes Biographical Information]
* [http://www.hoganstand.com/Dublin/HomePage.aspx Dublin GAA]
* [http://www.hoganstand.com/Dublin/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=9822 Article on Lar Foley]