Olive Foley with sons Tony and Dan after Munster’s anniversary victory. Photo: Courtesy of Olive Foley. Olive Foley reveals story behind touching tribute to late husband
Munster rugby players wore miraculous medals given to them by Olive Foley during their victory over Racing 92, ten years after the death of her husband, Munster legend Anthony ‘Axel’ Foley.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Mrs Foley said scrum-half Craig Casey showed her his medal after the 33-25 victory on October 17.
“He said, ‘Look Olive,’ and he put his hand in his jersey,” she recalled. Casey told her the players had worn their medals during the match, with some fastening them into strapping around their wrists and knees.
Mrs Foley, a member of the Legion of Mary, had been invited to address the squad and present their jerseys at Thomond Park on October 16, the tenth anniversary of Anthony’s death.
The idea of giving out medals came during a Legion of Mary pilgrimage to Medjugorje a week before the match, when she asked fellow pilgrims for advice on addressing the players. “I knew I was crossing over from the spiritual world to the secular world here now in a Munster dressing room,” she said.
She bought 50 medals, which a priest on the pilgrimage blessed, but upon arrival to Dublin Airport, her bag was nowhere to be seen with the presentation the following morning.
So, she rang a friend in Killaloe who, as it happened, had 50 blessed miraculous medals at home.
Before presenting the jerseys and medals, Mrs Foley told the players about Anthony’s dedication to Munster and his love for his family. She had also prayed for each individual member of the squad on Apparition Hill in Medjugorje.
She said the players received the medals with a real reverence and a “kindness and respect and love”, with most thanking her personally and two asking for more to give to family.
For Mrs Foley, the experience was deeply emotional. She later rang one of Anthony’s close friends at Munster to tell him how much the occasion had meant to her.
“This was not about me. This was about a little piece of our beautiful faith and Our Lady coming through that door into Munster,” she said.
Anthony Foley died suddenly in Paris in October 2016, ahead of Munster’s scheduled European fixture against Racing 92.