The death has taken place of Matt Lynch, a long time supporter of both Cavan and Killinkere GAA.

We repeat an interview with Matt carried out by Hogan Stand magazine in 1995.

Tradition.  In football parlance it is a double-edged sword which can at once aid and yet obstruct progress.  A first cousin of expectation but an uneasy bedfellow of realism, the weight of tradition rests heavily among the drumlins of Cavan where, despite being starved of any notable Senior success for a generation and more, football fever still runs deep into the heart of the psyche of the gaels of Cavan.

Per capita, the county of Cavan boasts perhaps the most loyal and passionate gaelic football supporters in the country.  Twenty-six years on from their last Ulster Senior Championship title triumph, enthusiasm for the country's most popular field game has not diminished and if anything, football has consolidated its ranking as Cavan's second principal religion.  Long time Cavan GAA supporter Matthew Lynch is one of its most avid disciples.

Born and reared in the parish of Killinkere, in the east of the border county, Mattie Lynch is fifty-two years of age and is Managing Director of the go ahead distribution company Stafford Lynch which is this year celebrating twenty-one years in existence.  A winner like Martin McHugh, the bould Lynch emits the honest, hardworking ethic which Cavan people are renowned for worldwide.

Mattie Lynch's pedigree in business fairly equates with his track record in gaelic football circles.  A nephew of long time Killinkere GAA club stalwart Aidan Cullen (for whom football is a vocation), Mattie played with his native club in the late fifties, sixties and early seventies and thoroughly enjoyed his time togged out for the Green and Gold tribe.

Over the course of his career, there were, sadly, more hard luck campaigns than rip-roaring successes.  A mixed bag.  Some special memories do stand out however, like the time he helped Killinkere beat Munterconnacht to clinch the 1972 Junior championship title.  A Junior League medal was added for good measure.

A no mean forward who had pace and passion in equal measure, the natural born footballer wasn't short of pals to help stir his innate ambition.  Players like Jimmy Stafford, Jim Smith and Gerald Smith (son of Jim Smith, captain of Cavan's All-Ireland winning team in 1933) were co-conspirators in the bid to make good on the playing fields of County Cavan.  In truth though, the young Lynch didn't need any whip to goad him into match practice.

Coming from Killinkere, the teenage Lynch was surrounded by a wealth of football tradition and he is delighted that even from a distance (he's now resident in Dublin) he can perceive a continuation of the type of gra for gaelic football among the indigenous population which the close-knit parish is famed for.

"The club has been enjoying tremendous success at underage level over recent years, especially at Under 14, Under 16 and Minor level ,while the senior team is currently unbeaten in Division One of the All County Football Leagues which mirrors the type of work that is going into underage at the club," Mattie enthused.

A man for whom gaelic football was indeed a religion and a man who can't quite jettison his addiction to the sport, the now successful businessman boasts a record which must surely be unique in amateur sporting circles.  Over the course of his twenty-two year playing career with Killinkere, he clocked up an astonishing sixty-six thousand miles (at his own expense) in order to fulfil his commitment to play with his home club.  In the course of accumulating such an astounding mileage, Mattie, never missed a single championship match for his native club.  "Then again most players back then demonstrated a great commitment to the club," Mattie recalls with no little nostalgia.

Born and reared in an era when the distinction of having won five Senior All-Ireland titles was, it seemed, just a matter of a season or two before the triumphs were added to, Mattie Lynch reckons that in hindsight, mitigating factors came into play which certainly didn't help Cavan's cause.

"There was a lot of emigration still going on in the fifties and migration thereafter," Mattie reflected.

Just why has Cavan singularly failed to keep pace with the other high profile teams in Ulster though?  "There are so many more distraction now and dual players, those who play soccer or rugby and gaelic are much more common now and because Cavan has such a small playing base, this has definitely hampered the level of talent coming through."

But haven't the Donegal's, Down's and Derry's of this world had to come to terms with the same developments?  "Yes, I agree but they got a headstart on Cavan, and fair play to them, by employing new methods in the course of their preparation for matches.  They were first to employ dieticians, psychologists and professional coaches and I think Cavan were a bit slow to develop new, younger football squads.  For years there seemed to be an idea or theory in Cavan football circles that the county was almost fated to win the Ulster title so the county had to rethink its strategy and thankfully I think we've got our act together."

Confident that Martin McHugh is now steering a ship which has definite potential, Mattie reckons that county's triumph over Antrim in his year's first round clash and  last Sunday's win over Monaghan are just the injection of self-belief that the county needed to go on to better things.

"Granted Antrim were poor on the day but all any team can do is go out and win the match and Cavan just did that.  Unfortunately the team did seem to be dragged down to Antrim's level but there's a lot more in them.  I'm convinced of that.  A win is a win all the same and to bury the seven year hoodoo was very important.  I remember travelling to see Cavan over recent years and being with some very sceptical supporters who travelled more in hope than in expectation to see Cavan playing Donegal.

"We've made progress this year and this year's provincial championship campaign will have done a lot for the team's confidence for the players and the supporters.  Losing so many first round championship matches started to become a millstone around the neck and thankfully that has been removed which is no bad thing."

Needless to say, Mattie was more than just an interested observer at Breffni Park for the Antrim clash and he was more than pleased with the way things transpired on the day.  He admits that he's intrigued by the obvious influence that the Wee Man has had on the current premier Cavan football squad

"I noticed that there was a different emphasis to their game, not at all like the style of football we would normally see from a Cavan team.  It was a shorter passing game and they played a more technical type game which was a good tactic on the day.  Cavan will need to be innovative in their tactics from here on in though bur Martin McHugh is the right man for the job and I've every confidence in him."

Not one who adheres to the theory that Tyrone are in a class of their own in Ulster and that the destination of the Anglo Celt Cup is a fait accompli, Matthew quotes the defeats of the big three D's, Down, Donegal and Derry as proof positive of the frailties of the so-called red-hot favourites.

"Anything can happen in championship football.  It's really all on the day as Tyrone showed," the husband of Sally and proud father of Kevin (a student at UCD and in South Africa during the rugby World Cup with Old Belvedere), Eimear, Garrett and Una (all of whom are involved in his distribution company, which employs 75 and has an annual turnover of some ten million pounds) declared.

Carrying over his ultra positive attitude to football to his go-ahead business, Matthew Lynch exudes the type of positive attitude to football and life that if it was bottled would leave a lot more of us in a position to guarantee sanity for the sake of a few punts!

Matt was buried this afternoon, Friday October 12th in Fingal Cemetery. Our sincerest sympathies to his family and friends. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis.

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