Mother (80s) and son (50s) who died in Cavan house fire named locally

A mother and son who died in a house fire in Co Cavan in the early hours of Sunday have been named locally as Kathleen (80) and Michael (53) Lynch.

Described as a “family steeped in our club and our community” by the local GAA club, it is understood they perished in the blaze, to which emergency services were alerted just before 2am on Sunday.

The mother and son’s home, in Lackenmore, a rural area between Ballyjamesduff town and New Inn, remained sealed off throughout Sunday as Garda forensics team examined the scene. The fire is thought to have started accidentally

Fire services attended the scene and extinguished the fire. Ms Lynch and her son were pronounced dead at the scene. Their bodies were taken to the mortuary at Cavan General Hospital where a postmortems will take place.

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In a tribute, Castlerahan GAA club on Sunday described the news as “awful”.

“A family steeped in our club and community with Kathleen having four grandsons ... on the winning intermediate team last year and a granddaughter on the ladies’ team that won the intermediate championship also. Her grandson Jamie O’Reilly is part of our u17 team who are in the championship final,” it said on social media.

“Her soup after the annual Christmas swim in Lacken lake is famous ... We pass on our sympathies to ... all the extended family,” it continued, adding a minute’s silence would be observed at all games through the county on Sunday.

Local Fine Gael councillor Trevor Smith described the deaths as a “terrible tragedy” and said the “thoughts and prayers of the whole community are with the family, their relatives and friends at this difficult time”.