Anthony Foley: A son of Munster we can all be proud of

When Cusack Park stood for a minute’s silence at the Clare county final last Sunday, a man in front of me didn’t bow his head. Instead he shook it, while scrolling down his phone, scanning tweet after tweet making reference to the passing of one of the county’s finest ever sons.

It was as if no matter how many times he read it was true, he still couldn’t process or believe the news which had broken about an hour earlier. As much as to bow the head like the rest of us might have seemed the more respectful gesture, in a way his was the more appropriate one. To bow the head would be to register, let alone, grieve, Anthony Foley’s passing, but it was too soon for that; by shaking the head the man captured the incredulity of Cusack Park, Clare, Limerick, Munster, Ireland, world rugby.

Not since the passing of Cormac McAnallen has the passing of a sports figure triggered such a sense of mass shock and affection throughout the country. Even though McAnallen was a further 18 years younger than Foley, the sentiment is virtually identical: gone way too soon. Although there is the consolation of knowing, like McAnallen before him, how much he achieved and packed in to such a short, full life, the overwhelming sense is of what he and his family have been deprived of.