Kevin Lynch (25 May 1956 – 1 August 1981) was an

Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...

and member of the

Irish National Liberation Army The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA, ga, Arm Saoirse Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group formed on 10 December 1974, during the 30-year period of conflict known as "the Troubles". The group seek ...

(INLA) from

Park, County Londonderry Park is a small village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It sits on the banks of the River Faughan and the foothills of the Sperrin Mountains near the village of Claudy. The village adjoins the 120-hectare Learmount Forest; Learmount Cast ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The

Dungiven Dungiven () is a small town, townland and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is near the main A6 Belfast to Derry road, which bypasses the town. It lies where the rivers Roe, Owenreagh and Owenbeg meet at the foot of the B ...

hurling team was renamed

Kevin Lynch's Hurling Club Kevin Lynch Hurling Club ( ga, Cumann lomanaíochta Chaoímhín Uí Loínsigh) is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Dungiven, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. They currently cater for hurling. The Gaelic football and ladies ...

in his honour after his death on

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

Early life

Lynch was the youngest in a family of eight children born to Paddy and Bridie Lynch in Park, north County Londonderry. Lynch's older brother, Frank, was an amateur boxer and he also participated in the sport as well as

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

and

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

. Lynch was a member of the winning

team which won the Feile na nGael Division 3 in

Thurles Thurles (; ''Durlas Éile'') is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is located in the civil parish of the same name in the barony of Eliogarty and in the ecclesiastical parish of Thurles (Roman Catholic parish), Thurles. The cathedral ch ...

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

in 1971 and in 1972 he captained the Derry Hurling team to an Under-16 All-Ireland title at

Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and he ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

by defeating

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

.''Tírghrá'', National Commemoration Centre, 2002. PB) p.241

INLA career

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 the

Maze Prison Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house alleged paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to Sept ...

in December 1977. He became involved with the blanket protest, joined the

1981 hunger strike The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Cat ...

at the Maze on 23 May 1981 and died 71 days later.

Other information

Kelly and the other hunger strikers are commemorated on the ''Irish Patriots and Martyrs of 1798, 1916 and 1981 Memorial'' in Waverley Cemetery in Sydney, Australia.

References

* Hegarty, Aidan ''Kevin Lynch and the Irish Hunger Strike'', Camlane Press, 2006

External links

Biography from IRIS, Vol. 1, No. 2, November 1981
(Sinn Féin publication)
Biography from the Irish Republican Socialist Movement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Kevin 1956 births 1981 deaths Derry inter-county hurlers Dungiven hurlers Dungiven Gaelic footballers Irish male boxers Irish National Liberation Army members Irish republicans Male boxers from Northern Ireland People who died on the 1981 Irish hunger strike