YOU ARE INVITED TO A ZOOM SESSION ON THE TEN HUNGER STRIKE IRISH PATRIOTS
Time: Jun 25, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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KEVIN LYNCH
ONE OF TEN MEN WHO DIED ON HUNGER STRIKE LED BY BOBBY SANDS IN 1981
When lauding the memory of INLA hunger striker
Kevin Lynch – one of three republican socialist prisoners who died in 1981, we
must not forget the complex history of the group he chose and the cause he died
for. The simple facts of the life of Kevin Lynch can be told in a minute.
Born on
May 25th, 1956, Kevin Lynch was the youngest of a family of eight, in the tiny
village of Park, eight miles outside Dungiven. His father, Paddy, and his
mother, Bridie, whose maiden name is Cassidy, were both born in Park too, Paddy
Lynch’s family established there for at least three generations, but they moved
to Dungiven after the births of their
children.
Paddy Lynch, a builder by trade, like his
father and grandfather before him – a trade which he handed down to his five
sons: Michael, Patsy, Francis, Gerard, and Kevin himself, who was an
apprenticed bricklayer. Three daughters in the family: Jean, Mary, and Bridie.
Kevin’s great passion was Gaelic games, playing
Gaelic football from very early on, and then taking up hurling when he was at
St. Patrick’s. He excelled at both.
Playing right half-back for St. Patrick’s
hurling club, which was representing County Derry, at the inaugural Feile na
nGael held in Thurles, County Tipperary, in 1971, Kevin’s performance was
considered a key factor in the team’s victory in the four-match competition
played over two days.
The following season Kevin was appointed
captain of both St. Patrick’s hurling team and the County Derry under-16 team
which went on in that season to beat Armagh in the All Ireland under-16 final
at Croke Park in Dublin.
He was a champion hurler.
He was also a boxer with the
St. Canice’s club, once reaching the County Derry final as a schoolboy, but not
always managing as easily as he achieved victory in his first fight! Just before that match was due
to start , his opponent asked him how many previous fights he’d had. With
suppressed humor, Kevin answered “thirty-three” so convincingly that his
opponent, overcome with nervous horror, couldn’t be persuaded into the ring.
Kevin
never lost his sense of humor and his athleticism.
As a member of the INLA, Lynch was tried, convicted and sentenced to
ten years for stealing shotguns, taking part in a punishment shooting and
conspiring to take arms from the security forces. He was sent to Long Kesh in
December 1977. He became involved with the blanket protest, joined the 1981
hunger strike on 23 May 1981 and died 71 days later on August 1, 1981.
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