Some beautiful words penned by Orla Foley, sister of Anthony “Axel” Foley
The saddest thing imaginable in my life was the untimely passing of my Big Brother, Anthony Foley. However, out of this darkness, a seed of life and hope has emerged, in the form of a beautiful anthem in Anthony’s memory, “Alone You Stand”, penned and sung by his good friend and teammate, Barry Murphy.
Despite my asking Barry before poor Anthony was even cold to write a song for him, for four solid years, anytime I would ask, “How is the song coming along?” Barry would shrug sadly and admit, “Orla, I have writer’s block about it.”; the impact of losing Anthony clearly taking its toll. However, I kept asking, Barry kept shrugging until…
As many of you will know, I am steeped in rugby; Thomond Park is my church and Lansdowne Road is my cathedral. Even my very beginnings were affected by rugby as apparently, I decided to arrive early. Dad was away on International Duty against Wales and my poor Mum had to drive herself eleven country (literally) miles to the maternity hospital. My first visit to the cathedral was the Ireland Vs Wales game in 1988, watching Big Bro Anthony and Bis Sis Rosie don the green jersey and follow in our Dad’s footsteps.
Barry Murphy himself wore the green of Ireland in his injury-shortened career – the Universe had different plans for him – and he will forever be remembered for scoring a Try for Munster against the All Blacks as part of the team that came so close in 2008!
So to stand here, in these hallowed grounds more than three decades after my first visit and release to you as a world exclusive, Barry Murphy’s beautiful tribute to my Big Brother Anthony, the anthem, “Alone You Stand” is bittersweet in the extreme, yet it is my greatest honour to date.
Will any of us ever forget the magic of the Ireland Team’s Figure 8 tribute to Anthony? I know I won’t until the day I die.A strange blessing came to me out of the pandemic. With no matches, weddings or birthdays to attend, I was inspired to cycle the whole of the Wild Atlantic Way in memory of Anthony in my spare time, so most weekends, I would head off to some part of the Way and pedal until I had cycled more than 3,000kms of our beautiful Atlantic Coastline from Kinsale in Cork to Muff in Donegal. Orla’s Wildways Fundraiser was born to facilitate this and to date has raised almost €10,000 to aid the work of three family-centric charities; CRY, (who provide screening and bereavement support for families affected by Sudden Adult Death), CARI (who provide free counselling and support to victims of child sexual abuse) and Anthony’s Charity acting as an ambassador and a member of the board Mid Western Cancer Foundation (who provide free counselling and holistic services to cancer patients in the Mid Western region).
All the proceeds from “Alone You Stand” have been kindly donated by Barry Murphy to Orla’s Wildways and will continue to support the great work being done on the ground to ease suffering.
The journey along the Wild Atlantic Way was so amazing and enjoyable – and cathartic – it was magical beyond all expectations. As if that wasn’t enough, hearing Barry deliver his final edit of “Alone You Stand” and having it donated to the fundraiser simply made my heart sing. The icing on the cake is the official launch of “Alone You Stand” here at the Aviva today at the Ireland versus All Blacks games is beyond my wildest dream. Its Magic. No doubt it’s Anthony still pulling strings albeit on a higher pitch!
Thank you to the IRFU, Mark Carey of Steamboat Music, Philip MaGee production, Conor O’Brien of Munster Rugby, Kieran Hartigan of Iris Production, Regenoron and to you for your donation to help the recording of the track.
Please Scan the QR code or go to: www.idonate.ie/AloneYouStand and follow the simple donation instructions and then at end of the process click on the download link to download your ‘Alone You Stand’ tribute anthem in memory of our Anthony Foley.
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