All-Ireland winning Waterford full-back Austin Flynn dies

Austin Flynn holding a picture of a Cork v Waterford league match taken in 1954 when he was marking Christy Ring. Picture: Dan Linehan

Austin Flynn, the full-back on the last Waterford hurling team to win the All-Ireland, has died.

Renowned as one of the best full-backs of that era, Flynn marked many of the game's greats, such as Nickey Rackard, Liam Devaney, and Christy Ring, in a career that ran from 1952 to ’67.

He claimed an All-Ireland title in 1959, three Munsters, and a National League crown in a golden era for the county between 1957 and ’63 that featured three All-Ireland final appearances. 

In a Irish Examiner interview in 2017 to mark his induction into the Munster GAA Hall of Fame, Flynn described his chief responsibility as "protecting the goalkeeper from being killed".

He was chosen at full-back on the Munster team that claimed the Railway Cup in 1960.

He also helped his club, Abbeyside, to four Waterford SHC finals, although they were defeated by the mighty Mount Sion on each occasion.

Flynn won three Cú Chulainn awards, the forerunner to the All-Stars, at no. 3 between its launch in 1963 and his retirement five years later, and was picked on the Waterford Hurling Team of the Millennium, again at full-back.