Longwood and Meath lost one their true greats over the weekend with the sad passing of Fergus (Fer) Foran on Sunday afternoon. It struck a poignant note that in Navan on the same afternoon, a number of Longwood’s current crop of stars were representing the Royal County in the National Football and Hurling Leagues. It was a path that Fer had trodden on many a day.

Recognised as one of the finest exponents of our national games, Fergus Foran togged out for Longwood from the mid 1940’s until his last appearance in a Longwood jersey in the Intermediate Hurling Final of 1968 when Longwood defeated Martinstown. He also togged out for short periods with Ballivor in senior football and with Trim in senior hurling. Along the way he picked up almost every available club honour in both hurling and football. In addition, he collected several inter-county hurling honours, most notably as a member of the Meath Hurling team of 1948.

Fergus helped to bring Longwood to the brink of greatness during the 1950’s with Feis Cup honours in 1952 and defeat in the Senior Hurling finals of 1953 and 1954. In addition, along with his brothers Aiden and Jackie, he brought Meath hurling to the brink of great things in 1951 when they held Wexford to a draw in the first round of the Leinster Championship. Wexford made it all the way to the All-Ireland Final that year where they were defeated by Tipperary.

At the end of 1951 Meath, with the Foran brothers to the forefront, took tea with the best that Tipperary could throw at them in a National Hurling League match in Trim. Even though they lost out in the end, Meath had the All-Ireland champions on the rack for a long time in a thrilling game of hurling, with the famous Tony Redden at the top of his form in the Tipperary goals.

The high point of Fergus Foran's hurling career was togging out for Leinster in Croke Park against Munster in the Railway Cup Final of 1953. He had not been selected for the semi-final but due (he thinks) to a fine display he put on against Dublin in a league, he caught the eye of the selectors. In the final, a Kilkenny hurler named Jim Hogan at right corner back was marking Christy Ring and let him in for two late goals. Munster won by two points. Halfway through the second half Fergus had been sent into the half back line as a substitute. He was very annoyed that he was not sent to mark Christy Ring because he felt sure that nobody, including Christy Ring, would have got two goals off him and done him out of a Railway Cup Medal.

The late Nicky Rackard of Wexford in a radio interview nominated Fergus Foran from Meath as the greatest hurler he had ever met on the field of play. The late Martin McKeogh, who hailed from Clare and knew a bit about hurling, declared “Ver Foran was the sweetest hurler I ever saw”. Fergus and his brother Aiden were fixtures on the Meath Senior Hurling team from 1948 until 1962 and also fixtures on Longwood teams in both hurling and football until well into the 1960’s.

After his illustrious playing career came to an end, Fergus devoted years of service to his club. He served as club chairman in 1985 and 1986. He also spent time coaching and managing teams for his beloved Longwood for a time. A football team under his management won a notable victory over Bellewstown in the Junior C football Final of 1985. From 1985 onwards he spent many years as Club Trustee overseeing, with his fellow trustees, the Field Purchase Fund, the fruits of which are there for all to see with the excellent club facilities our current players can avail of on a daily basis.

In 2018 when Longwood achieved championship success, winning the IFC for the first time in many generations, members of the victorious team made a point of visiting Fer and allowing him to savour the most recent success for the club he had given so much to down through the years. Fer (seen below holding the Mattie McDonnell Cup) was so proud of Longwood, just as all of us, who were lucky enough to have known him, are proud of him.

Fergus at various time has been known as Ver or Fer. Both of these nicknames sum up his character. Ver as short for Veritas and Fer as short for Ferrous. Truth and Iron was in his hurling. Truth and Iron was in the man all the days of his life.

Fergus is survived by his loving wife Kathleen, sons Val, Patrick and James, daughters Concepta, Rita, Antoinette, Martina and Maria, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, his loving and adoring 13 grandchildren, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, cousins and extended family and friends.

Ar dheis De go raibh a anam.