It’s not surprising that they would be difficult to separate. Wikipedia offers this definition of sarcasm and I think you will see how it’s easily confused with irony. “Sarcasm is “a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt. Though irony and understatement is usually the immediate context, most authorities sharply distinguish sarcasm from irony; however, others argue that sarcasm may or often does involve irony or employs ambivalence. Sarcasm has been suggested as a possible bullying action in some circumstances.”.
They define irony as follows: “Irony (from the Ancient Greek εἰρωνεία eirōneía, meaning dissimulation or feigned ignorance) is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions. Ironic statements (verbal irony) typically imply a meaning in opposition to their literal meaning. A situation is often said to be ironic (situational irony) if the actions taken have an effect exactly opposite from what was intended. The discordance of verbal irony is created as a means of communication (as in art or rhetoric). Descriptions or depictions of situational ironies, whether in fiction or in non-fiction, serve a communicative function of sharpening or highlighting certain discordant features of reality.”
Cynicism is perhaps the easiest to identify as entirely separate. It is defined as:
1 — capitalized : the doctrine of the Cynics
2 — cynical attitude or quality; also : a cynical comment or act
”Cynical:”:
1 — captious, peevish
2 — having or showing the attitude or temper of a cynic: as
a : contemptuously distrustful of human nature and motives <those cynical men who say that democracy cannot be honest and efficient — F. D. Roosevelt>
b : based on or reflecting a belief that human conduct is motivated primarily by self-interest <a cynical ploy to win votes.
The amazing thing is that our minds are capable of separating out all three and using them in our speech and writing.