Munster facing a night of emotion for Foley tribute

IT PROMISES to be an occasion awash with raw emotion. There will be grief, lingering shock and fierce pride. The people of Munster and the team will unite in tribute to their fallen hero.

Anthony Foley’s sudden death in Paris last weekend, at the age of just 42, generated an outpouring of profound sorrow. The songs and poignant silences observed by Munster fans in the French capital, when news came through, will stay lodged in the memory.

They were stunned by the loss of the province’s head coach and former captain. Foley was part of the fabric of this fine sporting institution; the captain who brought home the ‘Holy Grail’, the Heineken Cup, for the first time in 2006.

I was at Shannon Airport when the No 8 and his team-mates arrived with the trophy. He couldn’t wait to take it to the people, for whom it was such an obsession, because he was one of them. His father, Brendan, was in the immortal team who beat the All Blacks in 1978. Anthony took on the baton for his family with authority and commitment.

In recent years, being head coach at a time of transition had been a tough task, but he retained his devotion to the cause and his love of the team and what they all represented.

After Munster announced that tomorrow’s Champions Cup game against Glasgow would go ahead, captain Peter O’Mahony, Ireland’s flanker, broke down repeatedly as he tried to speak of the grief within the squad. He and his team-mates must somehow find the right emotional state to play a match.

At times like this, sport seems like a trivial matter, not one of life and death by any means, whatever the great Bill Shankly once said. A game of rugby or of any sort appears strangely irrelevant set against such a sombre backdrop but the decision to proceed with the fixture is right.

Foley was defined by what he did for Munster, so his death can be defined tomorrow by what Munster do for him. Only time will tell how the players will react but there is every chance they will summon up a performance of primal fury, as a means of paying their respects in fitting fashion.

Once the silent tributes are over there will be noise as never before at Thomond Park — the place of legend where Foley will be forever revered.