"The solitary Garda at Hassett's Cross, at rigid attention, saluting, Olive Foley's singularly brave oration at the funeral, his blazered 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008 teammates staying on to talk in small groups long after the coffin was laid." - Only One F in Foley

The first part of Anthony Foley's story is that his father Brendan was an Ireland international, played for Munster and Shannon, and he'd followed his father everywhere.

"I carried his bag into the changing room at Thomond and I minded the spot where he used to tog out - I was very protective of it."And if the second part of Axel's making his 1995 Ireland debut as an amateur, spending a long time in the wilderness, before returning as a professional."I got capped when I was twenty-one. I got six caps in my first year and for the four years after that I got a total of three."Then Foley's third was missing the 1999 World Cup, making the 2000 and 2002 Heineken Cup finals, playing at the 2003 World Cup before captaining Munster to their 2006 Heineken 'Holy Grail'."We'd been labelled as bridesmaids and we were sick of it. People said we'd never win it. We'd always be second best. It goes back to bitterness and pride. We'd shoved it down those people's throats."

A triptych merely amplifying the sadness of there being no fourth panel: the little boy who so adored his father and, in turn, so adored his sons, Tony and Dan, never got to see them play.

His beloved Munster will celebrate the 10th anniversary of his death at Páirc Ui Chaoimh today when they take on Racing, the very team Munster were to face on October 16, 2016.

Foley passed away in his sleep at the team hotel in Suresnes.The following six days ran into each with alacrity Paris-CGD Airport-Shannon-Killaloe-Thomond Park.There was the disbelief at the ground, Ryanair's special Fr008P flight, the massive queue at St Flannan's church on the Thursday night.The solitary Garda at Hassett's Cross, at rigid attention, saluting the hearse and funeral cortege as it passed Thomond Park - this still waters my eyes and has done right now as I type.Olive Foley's singularly brave oration at the funeral was unforgettable, his blazered 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008 teammates staying on to talk in small groups long after the coffin was laid at Relig Nua cemetery.Peter O'Mahony's dramatic press briefing breakdown and dignified recovery was one of his finest, bravest moments on Munster duty, Saturday's atmospheric European match against Glasgow, won despite having a player sent-off early on, was unforgettable.

Ireland would 'invent' the 'Axel 8' pre-match stance for the 2016 All Blacks game in Chicago; and, no, I don't understand why it is not used as Ireland's 'haka' before every game, why it is not being used in Cork today.

All of this following events on a balmy Sunday in the banlieue in ParisI still recall travelling north-west Montmartre-Stade Colombe by metro and my phone 'bipping' with a message from his youngest sister Orla: 'Call me.'"

I'd disembarked at Asnieres train station to make the call, a bleak, soulless, concrete mall of a place, two stops before the ground, where there were lots of Munster fans milling about, as yet unaware of what was happening.Details were scarce she said (mindful I was journalist after all) but her brother had died overnight in his sleep at the team hotel.Traveling on to the ground, which gendarmes were shuttering off as I arrived, I came around the corner to meet Mrs Quinlan (Alan's mom) and there was nothing to do but hug and stand in silence.

Anthony had gone to bed, had not surfaced for breakfast; almost certainly by the time Orla had spoken with me and I'd met Mrs Quinlan he had been given the Last Rites by a lay nun whom the hospital had called in.There is a lot happening besides too, a photo display opposite the stadium and, before kick-off Jean Wallace, who has previously performed as a soloists with the NSO, RTESO and English National opera, will sing There Is an Isle with the Shannon RFC choir.

The Munster players will wear bespoke jackets with the Munster crest and no8 on them and the Munster/Racing captains will swap jerseys with the no8.

Says Foley's double-Heineken Cup winning comrade Denis Leamy is on the Munster coaching staff today: "Axel was iconic. I came in as a young player and he was one of the big leaders within Munster, obviously playing for Ireland as well.

"He was hugely influential on me around my game, around my mindset in terms of how you developed and what you brought in a Munster jersey. He was a leader around that sort of thing."His belief in a Munster jersey was unshakable. He didn't feel that in a Munster jersey we could be beaten. He was uncompromising. He gave belief to everyone around him.

"A super player, a super teammate. He was a great leader. Obviously, he was the one that lifted the European Cup on the first day that we won it."The co-incidence that the opposition today in Cork is Racing is all too poignant"The memory of Axel is obviously to the forefront of everyone's mind and there is going to be an awful lot of commentary around that. It's tragic that he's not here anymore'

"He was a very, very special person and it's about how we do justice to Axel's memory and the Foley family as well."Foley captained Munster to that 2006 Heineken Cup win, O'Mahony captained the team in the 2016 post-funeral game against Glasgow, Tadhg Beirne will captain Munster today.

"No, I've never even had the privilege of meeting him, unfortunately, but I've certainly heard lots of stories about him and it feels like I have actually met him and how much we've spoken about him around the building."He's someone who's been spoken about from the very first day that I've arrived at Munster and some of his quotes and some of his actions are still spoken about in meetings and all around the building to this day."I think that probably just is a testament to the man he was."He was a pure Munster legend and just a Munster man, true and true. His quotes, as I said, we have one in our team motto at the moment. We kind of live by some of the words he's spoken every day."He's with us all the time and I don't think it's going to be any different this weekend. We're paying tribute to a true Munster man - and rightly so."That Sunday back in 2016, having cleared the first of what would be six days of news/sport to come I'd retreated to the Montmartre café around which the five-times Oscar-nominated film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie (2001) starring Audrey Tatou was set to write a last piece."Farewell then, Anthony Foley," I wrote of the first Munster/Irish captain to lift the Heineken Cup, "yours has been a truly fabulous destiny...'