They laid him

"They laid him brawdawn alanglast bed. With a bockalips of finisky fore his feet. And a barrowload of guenesis hoer his head."

In the song "Finnegan's Wake," Tim Finnegan falls from a ladder and dies. During his wake, he is splashed with whiskey and comes back to life.

The sentences above refer to the song's lyrics, which read:

"They wrapped him up in a nice clean sheet/ And laid him out across the bed,/ With a gallon of whiskey at his feet/ And a barrel of porter at his head."

Obviously, finisky = Finnegan + whiskey +finis (the end, death). "Finis" is then contrasted with the beginning, Genesis, in the pun "guenesis" = Guinness = porter brewed in Dublin (James Joyce's birthplace) at St. JAMES Gate.

After the end is the beginning, just as in the last page and first page of the book, and in Tim Finnegan, who will always begin again.

Also, as a side note, this meaning is also enhanced by the phrase "a bockalips", or "apocalypse"--the end. Scattered throughout the book are such references.