A future team-mate of Foley’s at provincial and international level, Marcus Horan was elevated to the Shannon side for the final chapter of that memorable winning run and has fond memories of lining out alongside the Killaloe man in his formative years.

“When I was going in there I didn’t look like a front-row forward, but I was well protected by the lads. Axel was one of those guys,” Horan explained.

“To me when I looked at Axel beside the other fellas, you’d think he was the same era and the same age, but he was much younger than the likes of Mick Galwey. He carried himself like one of the guys who was there a long time.

“The beauty of Axel was he transcended so many different generations. Axel could have been there with the oldest member of the club and having a good long chat with him. He could just as easily go over to one of the newest members and be geeing them up about a game coming up. That was the kind of guy he was.”

Even though his professional commitments ensured his appearances with Shannon became less frequent beyond the 1990s, Foley left behind a legacy that inspired the club to five additional AIL crowns in the decade that followed.

Horan was head coach of the Shannon first team when his fellow Clare native sadly passed away on this day five years ago. He believes his impact on the Parish club will be seen for some time to come.

“I think Shannon, for the short time we had Axel, is definitely a better place because he was there. There’s a lot of young kids still looking up to him.

“I look at Craig Casey, there’s an iconic photo of him as a ball boy with Axel. There’s still a generation looking up to Axel. I think that’s really special.”

Despite still being top of the roll of honour with nine top-flight titles, the present-day Shannon squad find themselves in Division 1B of the Energia All-Ireland League.

Now under the guidance of Pat O’Connor and Stephen Keogh, the former Munster and Leinster flanker, they will be hoping to mark Foley’s fifth anniversary by recording a victory away to City of Armagh later this afternoon.

Shannon will use their home game against Old Belvedere in a fortnight’s time to commemorate their former captain, on what would have been his 48th birthday.

It is tempting to think that a return to the glory days could be on the horizon, but Horan urged patience as O’Connor and Keogh look to navigate their way through the league’s second tier.

“We’re victims of our own success in Shannon and maybe even the generation thing is that everyone wants results now. Everyone wants to be back up there, but I think you have to be realistic,” he admitted.

“There’s some great guys coming through. Especially now when guys are in a bubble as regards to Covid, Munster can’t cater for all the players with regards to getting game-time.

“They’re going to have to lean on the clubs a bit more. Hopefully we’ll see these talented guys playing at club level having a cut off each other.”