THEY’RE TRYING TO move on as best they can, still trying to make some sense of it all.
For an hour at least, hurling may help life seem a little bit more normal on Sunday.
It’s what Paul Foley would have wanted, for Ballygunner to represent themselves with pride, to empty the tank in a county semi-final.
And so they’ll go into battle with heavy hearts against Fourmilewater at Fraher Field, hoping to do it for Paul.
They bid him a fond farewell last Thursday week, trained on Sunday morning, again during the week, light session last night.
Club chairman Gerry Cullinan admits that “we are all still in a state of shock” following the sudden passing of Foley, a much-loved character.
The Fourmilewater game was originally due to be played last Sunday as part of a double-header but went back a week, allowing Ballygunner the space to grieve.
“We’re thankful to the county board for that,” Cullinan says.
“Because obviously they didn’t have to do that. They were very sympathetic.”
Foley was “an extremely popular” figure within the club, the “life and soul of every gathering,” Cullinan reflects.
“Always the centre of all activities, involved in so much.
“He’d always have a joke with people and be it watching a match of whatever, he was a happy go lucky kind of individual.”
A powerful full-forward at the time, Foley scored two goals for Waterford in the 1992 All-Ireland minor final defeat to Galway.
Cullinan takes up the story from there.
“Paul was originally from Stradbally, he married Karen O’Sullivan, moved down here and started playing with us in Ballygunner.
“He won six county championships and a Munster club in 2001.
“He was very much involved with the club, with the juveniles as chairman for a good few years, training juvenile teams and the U16s last year.
“He was a very good footballer as well with Stradbally, played with Gaultier when he was here, and went back to Stradbally in his final year.
“He took up refereeing then and was a very good referee, doing a lot of matches at club, intercounty, schools and colleges levels.
“He will be missed by all of us here in Ballygunner and by a lot of people outside – the referees body, everybody else in the county but most of all by his wife Karen and their children, Lillian and Tadhg, and Paul’s parents Ellen and Tom Foley.”
Paul will be remembered, too, this afternoon when Ballygunner play Cois Bhride in the county minor hurling final at Walsh Park (2pm).
On Sunday, the club’s attentions turn to the senior grade, where the winners will qualify for a final clash with Tallow.
All the while, the Gunners continue to operate under a cloud, and Cullinan admits that the news of Foley’s death rocked the club to its foundations.
“Absolutely. It did rock us to our foundations and we’re still rocking.
“Paul had a lot of friends in the club, an awful lot of very close friends.
“They used to go a lot of things together and for them, in particular, it will take them a long time to come to terms with his death.
“We’ll just have to move on and we all have great memories of him, that’s one bit of a consolation.
“All I’ll say is he would want every Ballygunner player to give 100 per cent.
“If they think of Paul solely, what would Paul want us to do? To play at our very, very best.”
For Cullinan, it’s a poignant Sunday in more ways than one as he lined out for opponents Fourmilewater in his playing days.
“I’m from the next parish, Touraneena. We didn’t have a team at the time so I played for Fourmilewater.
“They’re a great club and while nobody would begrudge them a county title, Ballygunner will be going all out to ensure they don’t get to the final.”
