Paddy mcflynn autobiography featuring

Paddy (or Pat) McFlynn, a school headmaster by profession, was an officeholder of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) for over most of his life, culminating in holding its highest office, that of President, from 1979-1982, three particularly difficult years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, during which the Association came under certain pressures from several directions, especially arising from the 1981 hunger strikes by IRA prisoners. 

Patrick Joseph McFlynn was born in May 1918 in Magherafelt, County Londonderry, youngest of four children of William J McFlynn, a publican and farmer, and Brigid, née McNicholl.

He went to school in the town, first to St Joseph’s primary, then Rainey Endowed School. Rainey’s students were largely from Protestant families, but there were also many from Catholic families: at first, Mac Flynn played rugby (and played it w