Hunger strike time, instead of many prisoners striking at the same time, the hunger strikers started fasting one after the other in order to maximise publicity over the fate of each one. Bobby Sands was the first of ten republican paramilitary prisoners to die during a hunger strike in 1981. There was widespread sympathy for the hunger strikers from Irish republicans and the broader nationalist community on both sides of the Irish border. Bobby Sands was elected as an MP to the UK's Houses of Parliament and two other hunger strikers, Paddy Agnew and Kieran Doherty, were elected to Dáil Éireann in
Kevin Lynch (hunger striker) the winning Dungiven team which won the Feile na nGael Division 3 in Thurles , County Tipperary in 1971 and in 1972 he captained the Derry Hurling team to an Under-16 All-Ireland title at Croke Park, Dublin by defeating County Armagh. Lynch was tried, convicted and sentenced to ten years for stealing shotguns, taking part in a punishment shooting and conspiring to take arms from the security forces. He was sent to the Maze Prison in December 1977. He became involved with the blanket protest, joined the 1981 hunger strike at the Maze on 23 May 1981 and died 71