Fred Lynch was all about family, faith, friends and football

FRED was the second youngest of six children born to Patrick and Hannah Patsy Lynch.

Fred’s sister, Helen; and his brothers, Pat and Jack, all currently reside in New York. Fred is pre-deceased by his brothers, Michael Joseph (Jo Jo) and Donal.

Fred was born in Railway Terrace but moved shortly afterwards to Moyderwell before the family settled in 59A Boherbee.

Fred’s love of Gaelic Football began here, as the back garden of this property backed onto the old John Mitchels grounds, better know as Chamfers.

Fred lived in this house until he married his lifetime sweetheart Annette McCabe on the August 5, 1967.

He then made the ultimate declaration of love by moving into the heart of Austin Stack territory and into Annette’s family home in St Brendan’s Park.

His neighbours will testify that Freddie never forgot his roots in Boherbee.

As was common in those days, Fred left Tralee CBS shortly after completing his inter cert, as it was known in those days, to commence work in The Kerryman.

Fredin or the Fox, as he was affectionately known by his co-workers, was an extremely popular figure at The Kerryman.

Fred was the “go-to man” if there were any difficulties in the printing department, and it was often remarked that he had printers ink and John Mitchels blood in his veins.

Fred spent nearly 40 years at The Kerryman before retiring in the early 1990s.

Fred made lifelong friends at The Kerryman, friendships which endured down through the years.

Following his retirement from The Kerryman, Fred went back and hit the books again and studied English, History and Geography in the Vocational College of Tralee.

Fred sat his Leaving Certificate while nearing his 60th birthday and distinguished himself by getting honours in all three subjects.

On completion of his Leaving Certificate, Fred went to work with Tote Ireland for 10 years.

Fred worked for the Tote at all of the major horse-racing festivals throughout the country, including in Punchestown, Galway, Listowel and Killarney.

Fred played for the Kerry minor football team in the 1954 All-Ireland minor final, a team that was narrowly defeated by Dublin.

But in the same year, he captained John Mitchels to the county minor title.

This success coupled with their victory in the 1958 minor final was the catalyst for a golden era for the Boherbee club. John Mitchels went on to become the only club in the county to win five county senior titles in a row between 1959 and 1963.

Fred captained John Mitchels to their 1961 title, giving him the unique distinction of captaining both a minor and senior team to county championship success.

Fred’s grandson, Eoghan, who plays with the Legion in Killarney, was wing back on the 2019 Kerry minor team. Fred also won a Munster colleges medal with Tralee CBS.

Fred’s sporting achievements were not just confined to the Gaelic football field.

He was also the county champion sprinter for a number of years and had All-Ireland success in this sphere.

If anybody thinks Jack McCaffrey is the fastest man to play Gaelic Football, then they hadn’t seen Freddie Lynch play.

Fred was also a great clubman, and he was instrumental in John Mitchels’ move to their new state-of-the-art facilities in Ballyseedy.

Fred was a fountain of knowledge and was a regular participant on the quiz circuit which was very popular in Tralee in the 1970s and 1980s.

It is unknown the number of people that would visit Fred at his residence on matters relating to football, the history of Tralee and many other subjects. Whatever Freddie did not know wasn’t worth knowing.

Freddie could be best described by the four Fs: Family, Faith, Friends and Football.

Fred is survived by his wife, Annette; son, Richard; daughters, Joanne and Blánaid; daughter-in-law, Maria; sonsin-law, Kieran and Seamus; and grandsons, Darragh, Cathal, Cian, Eoghan, Breanndán, Gearóid, Tomás and Aodhán.

It is hoped that a Mass to celebrate Fred’s life will be held at a later date following the removal of the COVID-19 restrictions.

The late Fred Lynch