Jimmy Lynam, a two-time All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship winner with Cork in the 1950s, celebrated his 100th birthday with family and friends on Wednesday.
Lynam was a member of the Cork teams that won the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 1952 and 1953. He was a teammate of the great Christy Ring for both county and club with Glen Rovers.
A widower since the death of his wife Mary in 2016, Lynam has been living at at CareChoice Ballynoe Nursing Home in Cork for the past two years.
His daughter Mary, son Kieran and brother Noel joined him to mark the big day, as did Glen Rovers chairman John O’Callaghan and other club members. The Glen Community Choir sang The Banks of My Own Lovely Lee for the former corner-forward.
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Lynam attributes his longevity to staying active throughout his life.
“Sport, sport, sport,” he said with a smile. “I was active all my life – hurling, football, bowl-playing. I was involved in everything. I even did a bit of basketball. I was always active and of course, I used to walk everywhere – I used to walk miles.”
While his fondest memories of Croke Park stretch back to his All-Ireland final victories, he also recalls his first trip to GAA headquarters in 1939 when he was 14.
He travelled to Dublin to see Cork lose to Kilkenny by a point in the famous “thunder and lightning final”. However, his memories extend far beyond the match.
“It was September 3rd, 1939 and England declared war on Germany that day,” he said. “I was only 14 years old and people were worried going up in the train when they heard the news that war had been declared.”
Four years later, as war raged across Europe – and with coal scarce and trains unreliable – Lynam and his friend Gus O’Brien cycled to Dublin to see their pal Mick Kenefick captain Cork to All-Ireland glory against Antrim.
“We left Cork about midday on Friday and we had a bit of grub in Fermoy,” he recalled. “Then on to Cashel, where we stayed overnight, before heading on to Dublin on Saturday morning for the match on Sunday.
“We stayed on in Dublin and started back on the bikes to Cork on Tuesday morning.”
Asked about the differences between his favourite sport back then and now, Lynam offers a smile and a roll of the eyes to heaven before saying: “Hurling has changed.
“I can’t warm to today’s game – the goalkeeper pucks the ball to the corner back and it takes three or four fellas to get it down to the pitch. It was straight into the forwards in my day.
“I’d never manage today at all.”
