One of Carlow's best ever

"Surprised and surreal."

Darragh Foley’s reaction to the favourable comments he received after it was announced he was retiring from intercounty football.

Since word broke, the tributes have been pouring in. A feature interview was carried in the Sunday Independent while The Left-Wing Back Podcast devoted almost an entire episode to Foley. The presenter, Kevin Regan, has confirmed the listenership for that broadcast has gone into the thousands.

GAA Stats man, Leo McGough, confirmed that in 165 senior appearances for his county, Foley scored 12-433 (12-126) came from play.

The way the story was broken had a touch of class about it. His club posted the news on the X platform.

“I was so surprised by all the attention it got. Just the well-wishes from players, the people of Carlow and further afield,” the Kilbride man conceded.

Decision time

“You don’t play county football for the admiration outside, you do it for yourself, your club, your family but to get those well wishes was really nice and I am really thankful to everybody who contacted me and passed on their regards.”

Darragh had been thinking about retiring for a number of years. He has a young daughter (Ísla) and another baby is on the way in January.

After fifteen years in a Carlow senior jersey, he also wanted the decision to be definite.

“I was toying with the idea of saying nothing. Just slipping away,” he said.

He spoke to his wife, Shauna, who had a few words of advice.

“People will be still asking are you going in this year. If you want to step away put it to bed, put it out there and thank the people you want to thank,” she said.

Darragh listened. The decision was made. He was retiring from intercounty football. There would be no going back.

“The body is still in a good shape so I just said I would release something. I wanted to go through the club because that is where I started and that is where I will finish.”

Relief

The announcement lifted a weight off his shoulders.

“It was a relief. It has been playing on my mind for a few years now. It is something which is asked when you go past your thirties. With the change in the management team this year and everything which comes with that and a new cycle, I would not have had that much time to commit,” Darragh explained.

“If I am going to commit, I am going to commit 100%. I just felt this was the first time in my career that I felt I would not be able to do that. I wouldn’t be in a position to give what I wanted and what was needed. I felt the right decision was to step away.”

There were some great times. Some awful days too. That is all part of the collective. He has a great attitude to training. A warm fire or a niggly injury was never an excuse to stay indoors and not brave the cold nights of December, January and into April.

“I was lucky enough and maybe a bit mad enough I never really had those doubts to be honest. When training was on and especially over the last ten years I just honed in on training and loved what it was all about, the feeling you can get from exercise and looking after yourself. Those days in the cold weather and slopping away creates character in you,” he says.

Great players embracing training

It also helped he was lining out with ultra-talented footballers. John Murphy (Grange), Sean Gannon (Éire Óg), Daniel St Ledger (Kildavin-Clonegal), Kieran Nolan (Fighting Cocks), Brendan Murphy (Rathvilly) and Paul Broderick (Tinryland) to name just a few.

“It was something we had in Carlow and the players I grew up with there was a lot of character in the team. We never shied away from the hard stuff and that is what stood to us. A lot of us played for ten years. You need that drive. For a county to be successful, you need lads who can motivate themselves.

He says strength and conditioning training was never boring.

“It is tough. Lads playing intercounty hurling or football, it is a non-negotiable now,” Foley concedes.

“You have to have that strength and conditioning to survive in the game. Everyone is so strong and well-conditioned. What metres lads are putting up and distances they are covering in games is unbelievable.”

The Carlow and Kilbride player embraced it.

“If you cannot find enjoyment you are going to struggle. I have found enjoyment in it. Some of our best training sessions were in gyms because you are in there training hard with your peers, your friends. The music is going and lads are pushing. It is those kind of days which makes playing on Saturday or Sunday more special.”

Turning to sports science

In the nineties, the Éire Óg players, who won five Leinster titles, will recall that early season training comprised of long runs away from the football field.

“Unfortunately, I came at the latter part of that when the tough slogging was still there. I remember under Luke Dempsey and Anthony Rainbow, we did an awful lot of long-distance running. Some tough days up in The Curragh. A lot of long-distance. Then sports science became a big thing in all sorts of sports,” says Carlow’s leading scorer of all time.

Damien Sheehan was one of the new style trainers who came in. Brothers, Kieran and Gary Nolan, followed.

“We have been very lucky to have such great people. Coming towards the end of my career training was probably an hour, an hour and a half max. It was all short. You would have interval running involved in that as well but those days of the hard slog are gone. It made my life easier. It made it more enjoyable to be a county footballer because you knew going on to the pitch, the majority of the time you would have a ball in your hands.”

Darragh is a ball player. He could mix it if he had to but playing football is what he committed to.

“You want to be on the ball as much as possible. I was lucky the child never left me as well. All I wanted to do was get the ball and kick it. It was probably a frustration for some of my coaches, I wanted to take chances more often than not,” he confesses.

Foley pays tribute to former Kilbride manager, Anthony Curry, who prepared him in his younger days.

“He instilled in us a big belief. He was the one who taught me how to train hard. That is what we did when Anthony was over us and we were successful.”

No intercounty silverware

Foley admits that not having even one item of intercounty silverware hurts. You have to go back to 2002 to the last time Carlow senior footballers won a trophy.

“It is the motivator at the start of every season. You are in Division 4. You look at it and say if we get our house in order and get everything we need and all pushing in the one direction we are going to be there in the mix. The big bug bear for me over my career is we didn’t have those things enough in line so that we could have been as competitive as we should have been.” He says there is talent in the county.

“You know yourself the standard of clubs in Carlow. There definitely is players who could be successful at intercounty level. It took Turlough (O’Brien) coming in. A good back-room team. He also got the county board in line. We were all pushing in the one direction. We did get promoted but we didn’t get silverware which is a killer.”

Carlow beat Wicklow in that 2002 O’Byrne Cup final. Which would have been best? Winning the O’Byrne Cup or getting out of Division 3?

“Those lads would probably say they would swop it for promotion,” Foley suggests.

“To have something would be nice to look back on. It wasn’t to be. As a sportsperson, you cannot define it as medals won. You have to define it are you happy with your lot, are you happy with what you put into it. I was lucky to come out with it saying I gave as much as I could give and I am happy with that.”

Promotion

Foley’s intercounty career highlight was the 1-12 to 0-12 win over Antrim in Corrigan Park. He scored 1-2.

“It was unbelievable. Probably, my fondest memory of playing in Carlow. Every year, you are targeting promotion out of Division 4. That year we had the group of players and we had everything in line to do it. To go and do it with one game to spare was special. Probably the toughest place to go is Belfast. Between ourselves and Antrim to get promoted and the way we did it was special. It was a great performance and we were full value for the win.”

Carlow went on to beat Kildare in the Leinster championship but that year lost to Laois in both the league play-off and again in the provincial semi-final. Apart from that it was all positives with great days against Wexford, Monaghan, Tyrone and Dublin.

“There was so much in that side. It was a special place to be sitting in a Carlow dressing. Especially after the tough years we had and to look around the room. The serious amount of players we had and you just knew we were going to do it,” Foley acknowledged.

Not staying up in Division 3 the following year hurt. Then came the pandemic.

“Covid came and finished that group of players. For that period it was unbelievable. Even the memories. The practice games we had which Carlow people hadn’t known about. Going up playing and beating Tyrone in their training centre. People may have thought we were mad saying we could mix it with the top teams. We knew how we were performing in those challenge games.”

Poacher turned gamekeeper

Now that Darragh has made the decision, he will spend more time with his brother, James, who is making a name for himself. The Kilbride man refereed the 2024 Carlow senior football final replay. Darragh is one of James’ team of umpires but was not one of the four that day.

“It is something I am looking forward to and getting involved in. I probably would have put him in an awkward position having me playing. Now that I am out the other side I will definitely be giving him a hand out,” Darragh confirms.

Coaching

It is too early to say yet but coaching is something which the Carlow record holder hasn’t ruled out.

“I might get involved with St Martins. They were so good to me. Maybe down the line, I would like to give back. I was lucky enough to play under a few good coaches and have picked up a few things along the way which I can give back now.

Family and club

He acknowledges the input his family have had. Not just now but in his younger days.

“Shauna said whatever decision you are happy with, it is up to you. I am very lucky to have my Mam and Dad (Jim and Bernie). Two of the biggest Carlow supporters you will come across. My brother (James), sister (Lorraine), my extended family. Kilbride. It is such a family club as well. I am very fortunate to have all that support behind me.”

He won intermediate championship medals with his club in 2008 and 2017.

“They were probably two of the best moments. To win with your club is what it is all about. It probably sounds a bit clichéd and when it is a small club, it means that little bit more. It is like a band of brothers.”

What now?

Darragh continues to stay fit and can often be seen running the roads. Living on the Brownshill Road, Oak Park has some of his favourite routes. Would he do a marathon?

“I haven’t really thought much about it. I am just staying active. I have a tendency for my weight to fluctuate so it is a matter of staying fit and healthy. I love getting out running. It is great to clear the head. Maybe down the line? I would need a few years training for that craic. Nothing lined up for the moment. Just try to stay fit.”