Lynch, Mick
January 01, 2001
The lively legs that sprang into the air, the firm hands that plucked the ball out of the sky, the powerful hips that burst their way through many a tackle, and the strong, determined shoulders that proudly carried the red jersey of his beloved Urhan and Beara through many stirring football encounters now lie at rest in Gortnabulliga cemetery, Eyeries parish. Mick Lynch, one of the greatest wing half backs ever to represent his club and division has passed to his eternal reward.
Even though it is for his exploits at wing half back he will probably be remembered most, a look through his football career will show his undoubted versatility. In 1955 he was left half back on the Urhan team that won the Beara junior football championship. The following year he won a Beara JFC medal at full forward and he played at right half forward with Beara in the county SFC.
In 1957
By 1957 he was corner back on the Urhan team that won the Murphy Cup (league). The Beara JFC final wasn't played that year, but he was at centrefield for the Urhan team that went to the semi-final of the county JFC. He also played at centrefield for Beara who were defeated by just a point by St. Finbarr's who went on to win the county SFC. That year also he was elected treasurer of the Beara Divisional Board. In 1958 he was re-elected Beara Board treasurer.
He played at centrefield with his old friend Con Paddy O'Sullivan on the Urhan team that won the Beara JFC. That was the partnership for Beara also in the early rounds of the County SFC, but a head injury received in the Beara JFC final on the previous Sunday kept him out of the Beara team that went narrowly under to Macroom in a titanic semi-final battle in Lahaden, Bantry. Macroom later easily won the county senior championship. He was elected Beara Board treasurer again in 1959 when he won another Beara JFC medal with Urhan and was also selected for the Cork juniors. He played at right half back on the Beara team defeated by two points by the Barrs in the semi-final of the county SFC in Clonakilty. The Barrs then went on to win the county. 1960 was a very successful year for him.
He was at left half back on the Urhan team that defeated Mitchelstown in the County JFC final in Dunmanway, at right half back on the Beara team that reached the County SFC semi-final, played for Cork in the Munster JFC, and was at right half back on the only Beara team ever to win the Kelleher Shield. Urhan were senior in 1961. Mick played at left half back on the team that reached the semi-final of the county and the final of the Kelleher Shield. He was again on the Cork panel in the Muster JFC.
He played at left half back for Urhan in the County SFCs of 1962, 1963 and 1964. In the latter year Urhan went under by just one point to Clonakilty in the semi-final of the Kelleher Shield. In 1965 he was right half back on the Urhan team that reached the semi-final of the County IFC. He played with Beara in the SFC and also with the Beara team that reached the Kelleher Shield semi-final.
The following year he was again at right half back on the Urhan team in the semi-final of the Co IFC and on the Urhan team that won the Co. IFL by defeating Na Piarsaigh in the final. In 1967 he gave one of his greatest ever displays when, at right half back, he captained Urhan to victory over Millstreet in the county intermediate football championship final at Bantry. He was once more in action with Urhan who went under by three points to Clonakilty in the third round of the 1968 Co. SFC. 1969 was his last year on the playing field. That year he lined out in his favourite right half back position on the Urhan team that drew with the Barrs in the second round of the Co. IFC, and he once again he showed his versatility by playing at full forward on the depleted team that went under in the replay.
Officer
After that, the boots were hung up to end a long and illustrious career. Never once was he put to the line - he played it hard, but fair. Mick was also for several years an Officer of the Urhan Club. Arthur Guinness never made a penny on him. Within the past year he received his treasured Golden Jubilee Pioneer pin.
A fervent supporter of the old-style direct football, one of the few things that grieved him was the messing with the ball and the often needless, and foolish-looking when intercepted, short-passing that goes on in the game today.
Put together the traits of manliness, tremendous ability, sincerity, loyalty, dependability, discretion, helpfulness, a great sense of humour (with the gift of mimicry - but never in a hurtful fashion), his turn of phrase, his command of the language (both Irish and English), his influence for the good with young people, and his always solid sensible advice; put them all into a box; put a face on that box - and you were looking at Mick Lynch.
Go ndeana Dia trocaire ar a anam dilis.
- Riobard O'Dwyer- courtesy of The Southern Star
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