Appointing Axel a fitting reward for a Munster hero

Anthony Foley wasn’t even a twinkle in his father’s eye when the family name hit the rugby headlines for the first time.

The year was 1968 and St Mary’s were defying all expectation on their way to winning the Munster Junior Cup for the first time.

They had a number of long-established, grizzled individuals in that squad and a young fella called Brendan Foley who still didn’t need to shave more than a couple of times a week. But anybody who knew anything about rugby was fully aware of the man’s potential, most of all those in Shannon who snapped him up and he began a career that was to bring him many honours, including being a past of Munster’s famous 1978 victory over the All Blacks and twice captaining Shannon to Munster Cup glory.