One of the most remarkable stories to come out of the recent All-Ireland 4-Wall championships was the success of Dublin’s Ned Flynn, who claimed his 13th All-Ireland title in his 80th year, writes Paul Fitzpatrick.
The Na Fianna clubman teamed up with Eugene Kennedy in the All-Ireland Over 70s doubles final as they defeated Tipperary’s Jim Ryan and Paddy Collins in a very close contest. Ned, who turns 80 in October, played a sterling role on the right side of the doubles as Dublin won 21-15, 19-21, 11-7 in a marathon match.
When we caught up with the personable veteran player, he joked that he must be “the oldest swinger in town”.
“We played for an hour and 37 minutes,” Ned recalled of last week’s final.
“We were leading about 11-1 in the first game and they got back at us. The second game was ace for ace the whole way, although they got 11-4 ahead of us at one stage.
“In the tiebreaker we got away to a 6-1 lead but they pegged us back. It was nip and tuck, it could have gone either way, there’s no point in saying otherwise. I think we won 11-7 eventually.
“I’d have to say it was Eugene’s spin serves that kept us in the game more than anything else, he has a terrific spin on the serve and he can disguise it as well. You don’t know if it’s going to bounce left or right. Luckily enough, it got us through. We might try to do the same again next year.”
Ned is a native of Co Wicklow but has been living in Dublin most of his adult life, having retired as a Garda inspector.
“I’m a Wicklow man, I come from a little village called Donard which is known as the gateway to the Glen of Imaal. I spent the first 20 years of my life there and like in a lot of country vllages, there was a handball alley in the village, an outdoor 60x30 alley with no roof or anything like that.
“Beside that was the football field and when we were growing up, that was our entertainment, either the ball alley or the football field. My Dad played handball and twom of my uncles played handball as well so we were introduced to it at a very early age.
“I remember clearly on a Sunday morning after Mass, my Dad and his brothers and other people would all congregate in the ball alley and have games handball for hours on end. And we spent our time retrieving the ball every time it was hit out over the wall.
“That was basically our introduction to the sport. Unfortunately, there was no coaching in those days, you just picked it up as you went along. But that was my introduction to the game and I’ve been playing it all my life since.
“Maybe that’s why I’m still able to play, because I started so young, I don’t know. I never drank or smoked in my life so I had a healthy lifestyle as well.”
Education took him to Tipperary before he began working in construction before joining the Gardaí, enrolling in Templemore on March 6th, 1964.
“I went to the local national school and then I went to secondary school in Clonmel of all places. I left there at 16 and I went working with my Dad as a carpenter. I got fed up of that after about four years and I joined the guards and I spent 36 terrific years in the guards and I managed to reach the rank of an inspector and I retired in 2000.
“All my service was in Dublin city. I started off out in Howth, I was in Donnybrook, Fitzgibbon St, Store St, Garda Headquarters and I finished up as an inspector in the Traffic Division in Dublin Castle.
“We used to have serious handball championships in the Garda Síochána. I managed to win the Garda senior title three times during my service which was a fairly competitive one. Mick Sullivan would have been a serious handballer during that period, Brian Colleran from Galway as well and Willie Magee among others. But I had an opportunity and I won three of them so I didn’t do too bad.”
In his early years in the force, he played football for Howth and in the Garda inter-divisional competitions (“They used to kill each other. The dirtiest footballers I ever came across in my life!”) before a back injury sustained in a match in Balgriffin, which later required surgery, saw him hang up the boots and focus on handball.
“My first handball All-Ireland title, believe it or not, I think was in 1987, it was a 60x30 Over 40s All-Ireland. My partner was Pat Ryan, who was a teacher in St Fintan’s out in Sutton.
“Over the next 36 years I managed to win, to the best of my knowledge, 13 All-Irelands altogether.
“I gave up playing the big alley about 30 years ago because I found the concrete floor was affecting my knees. So I quit the 60x30 and concentrated on the 40x20 entirely.”
Between 2014 and 2018, Ned played in seven All-Ireland finals and won six of them.
“I was really jumping out of my skin for those four years but not any more,” he added modestly.
Ned was married in 1968 and bought a house in Raheny, where he and his wife have lived ever since. They have three daughters and one son, who sadly died as a small infant.
“He’s still very much a member of the family and we’ll never forget him,” he said.
Ned is highly active and enjoys handball as a fun pastime and a competitive outlet.
“I’m a firm believer that you have to keep the mind and the body agile, if you neglect either one of them, you’re going to be in trouble. And handball to me is one of the greatest sports for keeping fit. Every moving part of your body, you have to move it to play handball.
“And it’s all about keeping moving. People who stop being active, they slowly but surely begin to seize up. And it keeps the mind active as well because you have to try to out-wit the guy that you’re playing.
“I like playing competitions to be honest about it, I always did. It’s a step-up from just doing the exercise. I do Pilates as well which I find a great exercise for stretching.”
The doubles finals were a marvellous showcase for the new national centre, he felt.
“It took a long time to get off the ground but it’s a fantastic place. I think the games over the weekend would have really advertised it big time.
“A lot of fellas probably didn’t really appreciate what a fine complex it is. It’s a fabulous complex, there’s no doubt about it.”
Ned’s longevity and continued athleticism in the handball court is extraordinary and – although records are not entirely clear – his win last weekend with Eugene probably makes him the oldest All-Ireland medallist. And he has no intention of slowing down any time soon.
“It’s possible alright. I think most fellas quit playing competitively around 75 at the oldest. I don’t know anybody the same age as myself. I’ll be 80 now on the 14th of October.
“And I intend to keep playing for another while.”