The history of the GAA is rich with stories of family involvement and many clubs have multiple sets of brothers or sisters involved. In the modern era however it is rare to see five siblings field in the one team, but that is just the case for Naomh Eoin at Kent Park on Sunday last as Robert O'Kelly Lynch made his championship debut for the Ballydougan based side as they hosted Calry St Joseph's in their first game of this year's Sligo Senior hurling championship.
Robert joined his four older brothers - Gerard, Tony, Fergal and Liam to help steer his side to victory.
It's been a busy year already for the O'Kelly Lynches. Robert himself represented Sligo in both hurling and football at U20 level, including an appearance in the All Ireland final with the U20 footballers, and he was also part of the Summerhill College side that reached the All-Ireland colleges football final earlier this year. Gerard was part of the Sligo senior football squad that conquered Div 4 of the National League while Liam was a regular part of the county's senior hurling panel.
The family influence doesn't end on the field as the lad's father, Bill O'Kelly Lynch was the manager of the Naomh Eoin team which will no doubt be hoping that the injection of youth represented by Robert and his fellow debutants, Corey O'Dowd and Donnacha O'Brien - all three of whom featured on Sligo's successful Celtic Challenge winning team last year.
Pictured is the Naomh Eoin team with four O'Kelly Lynch brothers in the front row - Robert, 2nd left, Liam 3rd left, Tony 4th left and Gerard extreme right. The fifth brother, Fergal, is 4th left, back row,
