Death of former GAA president McFlynn

The oldest surviving GAA President, Paddy McFlynn, whose death has occurred, was the first to be elected a year ahead of taking office.

He served the Association between 1979 and 1982, having been chosen as President-elect at the 1978 Congress in Sligo, defeating former Leinster chairman Jim Roche from Wexford by 156 votes to 99 after three counts.

Runner-up to the late Con Murphy in 1976, he said in his acceptance speech it was ‘fitting in these troubled times’ that someone from the North of Ireland should be elected.

Ironically, a launch of his autobiography by Tyrone journalist Alan Rodgers had been scheduled for this week. Reportedly it reveals his fears for the unity of the GAA during the period of the hunger strikes.

Former Director-General Liam Mulvihill referred to this in a tribute in his 1982 Congress report, writing that his term of office had been ‘all the more difficult in that the Northern Ireland problem was a constant worry and a potential source of tension.’

Aged 94, he was a native of Magherafelt, Co. Derry and his career in administration began at the age of 16 when appointed a divisional secretary.

Moving to Down in 1951 to take up a teaching appointment, he served as Treasurer for 21 years and was Ulster chairman from 1961 to 1964. He was a long time Down delegate to the Central Council and was present at the famous meeting of the Council which agreed that the 1947 All-Ireland SFC final would be played in New York.