Desmond Foley was an Irish Gaelic footballer and hurler of the 1950s and 1960s.
11 Facts About Des Foley
1.
2.
Des Foley was a politician and represented Fianna Fail in Dail Eireann.
3.
Desmond Foley was born into a farming family at Kinsealy, County Dublin in 1940.
4.
Des Foley won further Railway Cup medals again in 1964 and 1965.
5.
Des Foley was a prominent member of the Dublin county hurling team from 1958 until 1969, playing on the losing side in the 1961 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final.
6.
Des Foley won three All-Star awards, two for football and one for hurling, but never a senior All-Ireland hurling medal.
7.
Des Foley was a mid-fielder of the highest ranking, particularly noted for his outstanding sportsmanship.
8.
Des Foley's brother Lar Foley was a team colleague, both in hurling and football, through most of his campaigns in the 1950s and 60s and who was an All-Ireland medal winner for Gaelic football in 1958 and 1963.
9.
Towards the end of his playing career, Des Foley became interested in politics and was elected to Dail Eireann as a Fianna Fail Teachta Dala for the Dublin County constituency at the 1965 general election, and in the Dublin County North constituency at the 1969 general election.
10.
Des Foley resigned from the Fianna Fail parliamentary party on 4 November 1971, in advance of a confidence motion in Jim Gibbons, whose role in the Arms Crisis he disagreed with.
11.
Des Foley unsuccessfully contested the 1973 general election in Dublin County North as an independent candidate.