Sligo hurler, Tony O'Kelly-Lynch.
By John Harrington
Hurling has a rich history of bands of brothers playing together for their county.
The Fennellys and Hendersons in Kilkenny, the Whelahans and Dooleys in Offaly, and the McGraths and Bonnars in Tipperary are just some who have earned renown for their fraternal service.
Here’s one for GAA historians to answer though – has any set of brothers matched or bettered the achievement of the O’Kelly-Lynchs of Sligo who had all five brothers on the field of play against Roscommon in the Connacht Senior Hurling League on January 1st?
The five O’Kelly-Lynch brothers from eldest to youngest are Gerard, Tony, Fergal, Liam, and Robert, and their love for hurling was fostered from as early as they can all remember by their father Bill, who is also Secretary of the Naomh Eoin hurling club.
“There was a lot of sliotars lost over walls and stuck in ditches and stuff growing up,” says Tony O’Kelly-Lynch with a smile.
“Yeah, any time we had a spare minute we were hurling. Over the summer especially we'd be up pucking with each other and against each other the whole way through.
“Our dad would have had a big influence and is a huge figure in the club. He did a lot of coaching underage with us, he's probably coached most of the club's current senior players the whole way up. He's fairly had an impact on the club.
“Having the five of us on the pitch at the same time on the first of January was nice. We didn't really notice it at the time that all five of us were playing, it was only afterwards and they started pointing cameras at us and got us in for a picture that we realised the five of us were on the pitch together.
“The youngest lad didn't start and when he came on we were in the middle of the game and nobody passed any heed. It was a nice moment afterwards when we all realised what happened.”
The five O'Kelly-Lynch brothers, left to right, Fergal, Robert, Tony, Gerard and Liam who lined out for Sligo in the Connacht Senior Hurling League against Roscommon on January 1.
The O’Kelly-Lynch siblings will be key men for Sligo when they start their Christy Ring Cup campaign with a home tie against Kildare on Saturday.
It’s arguably the toughest start possible to the championship for the Connacht side, but Tony believes that’s a positive rather than a negative.
“We have Kildare in Markievicz Park and it'll be a very tough game for us starting off," he says. "I'm sure Kildare are upset to have been relegated from the Joe McDonagh Cup so they'll really be going for it this year.
“They're obviously hurling at a higher standard than us in the League so we'll get a fair idea of where we're at from that game.
“Hopefully we can get the win but, if not, we'll be able to see where improvements need to be made so it's nice to get Kildare in the first game from that perspective because they're probably the standard-bearers for the championship.”
Sligo had decent campaign in Division 3A of the Allianz Hurling League, reaching the final where they pushed Mayo to three points in a high-quality contest.
Carlow native Stephen Sheil has come in as manager this year and the players have enjoyed the approach he’s taken.
“Really good,” says O’Kelly-Lynch of Sheil. “The lads are really driving the standard. Stephen Shiel is doing brilliant work with us, the backroom staff that he's brought in are brand new and we're really enjoying working with them too. I think the physio is the same as last year but apart from that it's all new faces and all new ideas and it's really refreshing.
“Trainings are all ball-focused and they're always different. There's no repetitiveness or getting bored and just showing up and clocking in and clocking out. You're always kept on your toes because they’re really driving the standards."
O’Kelly-Lynch is part of a golden generation of Sligo hurlers that won the Lory Meagher and Nickey Rackard Cups in successive years in 2018 and 2019.
Since then the game has become more and more popular at underage club level in the county, which bodes very well for the future.
“Definitely,” says O’Kelly-Lynch. “Numbers are definitely growing. There are clubs that have never hurled before that are now really strong at underage so hopefully there'll be a few more senior teams in the next few years as well that will drive it on.”
O’Kelly-Lynch was just 19 when he won a Lory Meagher Cup medal in 2018 and 20 when they won the Nickey Rackard Cup the following year. Now 25, he’s very much in his prime and hungry for more silverware.
“I’ve always wanted to win,” he says. “I've always wanted to just do the best I can for the county. Winning is way to show that you're progressing, I guess.
“There's never been a time where I just wanted to float through on a county panel. From the first year I was in I wanted to be contributing to Sligo's success.”