Release 2.19q
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Burke and O'Connor Intercounty Championships 2024
  • 2024 Burke Winners
  • 2024 Burke 2nd place
  • 2024 Burke 3rd place
  • 2024 OConnor Winners
  • 2024 OConnor 2nd place
  • 2024 OConnor 3rd place

Well done to all of the 30 teams that participated in the Intercounty teams championships this weekend at the Cavan Crystal Hotel.  Both contests, which were run on a round-robin basis, were keenly contested throughout and the results remained in doubt until the final round was complete.  

Congratulations to the winners of the Burke Intercounty Open Teams from Dublin of David Dunne, Martin Brady, Paul Delaney and Tomas Roche.  A second Dublin team of Matthew O'Farrell, Luca Crone, Teresa Rigney and BJ O'Brien squeaked home in second ahead of the Donegal team of Denis Ellis, Connell McLoone and Sandra and John McGinley.

The O'Connor Intercounty Intermediate Teams was also a tight affair with the top two teams exchanging the lead regularly.  Ultimately victory went to the Meath team of Dara Voyles, Nicola O'Dowd, Sandra Peden and Linda Walsh from the Dublin squad of Vicky Pigot, Paul Clinch, Mia Delaney and Jeremy James.  All those present were also delighted to see a home team from Cavan in the prizes, with Kathleen Gibbons, Mary Mulvey, Frances Daly and Simon John Ridley coming in third place.

Our thanks as always goes to our directors, Fearghal O'Boyle and Huey Daly, for an efficient and smoothly-run tournament; to Aileen Timoney for all her work organising the event and the bridge clubs in Cavan for their support throughout.  We look forward to our next visit for the Seniors Congress from 16th-18th April.

Continuing the EBL's Online Training Program for women
Continuing the EBL's Online Training Program for women

 

This European Bridge League online training program gives female players the option to step up their game, increase their Bridge self-confidence and allow them to participate in higher level competitions in Ireland and in the international Bridge arena. It's free of charge.

The first session of 2024 will take place on Wednesday, 13th of March. In this session we will have the pleasure of hosting Giorgia Botta, an Italian professional Bridge player and teacher.  More information on this seminar and on Women's Bridge can be found here: http://womenbridge.org. Please note that the registration to the training program is done via Women's Coordinator Joan Kenny, who can be contacted using This Link.

Congratulations to Interprovincial Winners 2023!
  • 2023 Interprovincial Open Winners: Munster
  • 2023 Interprovincial Area Master Winners: Leinster
  • 2023 Interprovincial Intermediate Winners: Leinster

The annual IBU Interprovincial tournament was held on 18th-19th November 2023 at the Cavan Crystal hotel.  Three competitions were held at Open, Area Master and Intermediate levels.  In each competition, each province enters three teams (12 players), who play against the three teams from each of the other provinces - 9 matches in all - to determine the winning province by total VPs.

In the Open Competition, Munster led the field from the starting gun to the finish line - so congratulations on such a decisive result to their team of Gordon Lessells, Bob & Maureen Pattinson, Diarmuid Reddan (PC), Ranald Milne, Pat Quinn, Derek O'Gorman, Cian Holland, Tom McCarthy, Kelan O'Connor, John and Lucy Phelan.

The Area Master competition for the Fearghal O'Boyle trophy was more even, with Munster and Leinster tightly matched initially; however Leinster snatched a decisive lead late on Saturday which they never relinquished: well done to their team: Tony Ward, Bill O'Hanlon, Gerry Ryan, Elaine Fitzpatrick, Niamh Harty, Jimmy Byrne, Eamon Martin, Pam Harrington, Mary & Eoin Hodkinson, Rachel Connellan and Rosalind O Brien, pictured receiving the trophy from Fearghal O'Boyle.

The Intermediate competition was most closely fought with Leinster, Munster and Connacht exchanging the top spot throughout Saturday, ending up with Connacht holding a narrow overnight lead.  However, a strong performance on Sunday winning 8 of their 9 matches pulled Leinster through to top the field: great determination by the team of Kevin McKevitt, Angela O Neill, Helen Dredge, Anne Hogan, Kevin Kennedy, Willie Redmond, Pat Costello, Tom Reilly, Catherine Carabine, Deirdre Lonergan, Kerri Nolan and Aisling O'Grady

Congratulations to all who had the honour of being selected to represent their province.  Our thanks as always go to the fantastic TD team of Fearghal O'Boyle, Mairead Basquille and Brian Lawlor for a seamlessly run tournament.  A special thanks to Aileen Timoney for her tireless work with the hotel and with local clubs to ensure the success of the event.  Full results can be found >here<.

Congratulations to the Irish Champions - 5th in the 2023 EBL Champions Cup!
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  • Conor Boland and Tom Hanlon
  • John Carroll and Mark Moran
  • Adam Mesbur and Tommy Garvey
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  • 2023 EBL Irish Champions team

Congratulations to the Irish Champions team competing in Dubrovnik in the European Champions Cup from 9th - 11th November 2023, finishing 5th overall in this prestigious event.  Alongside NPC Grainne Barton, we were represented by Tom Hanlon, Conor Boland, John Carroll, Mark Moran, Adam Mesbur and Tommy Garvey.

Competing in the second group for 5th-8th place, our team first beat Croatia to reach the finals, where they played the Polish champions.   Our Irish champions had built a hugely impressive 93-13 lead after 16 of 32 boards, at which point the Polish team conceded defeat.

A fantastic performance and great result from the team.  You can find more details at this link.

Irish Win in BGB Junior Pairs

Congratulations to Luca Crone & Matthew O’Farrell, who were victorious in the BGB (Bridge Great Britain) Junior Online Pairs, held on RealBridge on Saturday 23 September. Their score of 57.21% was just enough to pip Rufus Behr & Jamie Day (Scotland) for the Paul Porteous Trophy (for the Under-26 category). Well done also to Sheila Walsh & Isabel Burke who finished fourth and were the best ladies' pair.

The winners of the Liz McGowan Trophy (for the Under-21 category) were Harriet Cork & Raffy Sinclair (England). Our thanks to Fearghal O’Boyle for very kindly donating his time to TD the competition, and to Shireen Mohandes and the RealBridge team for their support in promoting the event.  Full results here.

Irish team at World Championships in Marrakech
Irish team at World Championships in Marrakech

An experienced and well-regarded squad represented Ireland at the World Championships (for the “Bermuda Bowl”), held in Marrakech, Morocco, from 20 August to 2 September 2023.  Mark Moran, Adam Mesbur, John Carroll, Tommy Garvey, coach Nick FitzGibbon, Hugh McGann, Tom Hanlon (L-R) pictured with NPC Gráinne Barton had been preparing diligently for this event for some time. The competition was extremely tough, with several teams made up entirely of full-time bridge professionals, and the schedule is intense – an eight-day round-robin of three matches per day to qualify as one of the top eight teams for a knockout phase … and all in sweltering conditions of 40 degree heat!  Matches took place daily at 10:00, 13:15, and 15:50 (Morocco is in the same time-zone as Ireland). 

As the round-robin phase of the championships ended, Ireland won both their final matches to finish in thirteenth place with a record of ten wins, one draw, and twelve defeats. It was always a big challenge to make the playoffs, in a field crowded with teams of full-time bridge professionals, and mid-table is a very respectable finish for the Irish team.  We congratulate the team on qualifying for the Bermuda Bowl (for only the second time in our history) and thank them for the hard work they put in, and the interest and excitement that they have provided for us over the eight days of the tournament.

Welcome to IBU President 2023/24 Peter O'Meara
Welcome to IBU President 2023/24 Peter O'Meara

 

At the Annual Meeting of the Irish Bridge Union held on Monday, 14th August in CityNorth Hotel, Gormanstown, County Meath, Council welcomed President Peter O'Meara (left), being congratulated by outgoing President Harold Curran.

 

We wish best of fortune to President Peter and offer our thanks and best wishes to Harold for his effort and commitment throughout his term.

Success for Youth and Junior players

Congratulations to two of our Junior team, Luca Crone & Matthew O’Farrell, who finished sixth in the President’s Cup at the recent European Transnational Youth Championships in Veldhoven, the Netherlands.  Good wishes also to the Irish Under-21 team taking part in the 18th World Youth Teams Championships at the same venue currently. We received a late invitation to enter a team, and the squad (Aileen Armstrong, Eve Connell, Klara Flanagan, David Hoyne, Phedra Kingston, with NCP John Phelan) is young (five of them are 17, and still in school), and inexperienced, and it’s fair to say that they are finding the competition tough thus far. But Phedra, who has just turned 17, made her presence felt with an excellent piece of declarer play to bring home a tricky slam contract, which was duly recorded by her captain in the Daily Championship Bulletin (page 14).

Pictured below are Isabel Burke & Luca Crone and Phedra Kingston & David Hoyne in action in the preliminary mixed pairs.

    

Egan Trophy
Egan Trophy

The Egan Trophy is contested annually between 10 invited teams from CBAI and NIBU, and was played at La Mon House on 27th and 28th May.

Our congratulations to the pictured winning team of Nick Fitzgibbon, John Carroll, Tommy Garvey, Adam Mesbur, and Mark Moran (missing from picture).  Paul Delaney and Tomas Roche, Martin Brady and David Dunne came in second place with Lucy Phelan & Louise Mitchell along with Ann O'Connell & Valarie Burke-Moran finishing third.

NIBU hosted the event and our special thanks go to Anne Fitzpatrick, our organiser, and to Alan Hill for acting as TD.

Full results can be found >here<.

IBU Club Pairs Championships – Online on BBO, 13 May 2023

 

The IBU Club Pairs was held online on BBO on Saturday 13 May at 11:00, with separate competitions for Master and Intermediate grades.   

Our Master winners in a tight contest were Thomas MacCormac playing with Geoffrey S. Jade Barrett, narrowly beating both Wayne Somerville & Luca Crone in second and Joan Kenny & Enda Glynn in third.  Full Masters results can be found >here<.

Congratulations to our Intermediate winners Paul Dunne and Mags Kelly of Castleknock.  In a tight contest for second, Anthony Coogan & Joan McDonald emerged just ahead of Olive Mulcahy & James McNamara.  The Intermediate results can be found >here<.

Our thanks to all who took part in the two competitions; with special thanks to our TD, Fearghal O'Boyle.

 

IBU Seniors Congress 2023 - Cavan, 18th to 20th April
  • 2023 Pat McDevitt Trophy Seniors Pairs
  • 2023 Seniors Teams 1st
  • 2023 Seniors Teams 2nd
  • 2023 Seniors Teams 3rd

Following last year's revival of the Seniors Congress, it was very encouraging to see continued growth in the numbers returning to in-person play at the IBU Seniors Congress 2023 at the Cavan Crystal Hotel from 18th to 20th April.  Our thanks and congratulations to all who participated in a thoroughly enjoyable event.  Particular congratulations to winners!

Gala Open Pairs – Helen Hall and Michael McFaul (Belfast)

Novice Pairs – Susan Grogan and Kathleen Lavin (Cavan)

Congress Pairs Gay Keaveney and Peter Goodman (Galway and Dublin) (session 1 boards)

Congress Teams  Pat McDevitt, Gay Keaveney, Peter Goodman and Enda Glynn

Congratulations also to our Open Pairs winners:

Wednesday

1.30 p.m. Open Pairs – Melissa Brady and Paddy McDermott (Cavan)
7.00 p.m. Open Pairs
 – Paddy McDermott and Seamus Bennett (NS), Ann Gaffney and Pat Plunket (EW) (Cavan)

Thursday

11.00 a.m. Open Pairs – Helene McCambridge and Mary P. Flynn (Belfast)
3.00 p.m. Open Pairs
 – Paddy McDermott and Peter Byrne (Cavan and Drogheda)

Huge thanks as always to our excellent TDs, Fearghal O’Boyle and Peter Byrne, who made sure the entire event ran like clockwork.  We are particularly grateful to Aileen Timoney, who put in a lot of unseen work organising the event with the venue; and also to Cavan County Council who, along with the CBAI North Eastern region, sponsored the three day event.

Moylan 2023
  • Moylan 2023 1st
  • Moylan 2023 2nd
  • Moylan 2023 3rd

The IBU All-Ireland National Pairs Championship for the Moylan Cup took place in Malahide Regional Bridge Centre over the weekend of 15/16 April, with a full-house of 40 pairs competing.  Our thanks to all who accepted the invitation to take part, to Malahide for hosting, and to Tournament Director Eamon Galligan for ensuring everything went off smoothly.

The prizewinners were:

  • 1st Joan Kenny & Jeannie Fitzgerald;
  • 2nd Tom Hanlon & John Carroll;
  • 3rd BJ O’Brien & Peter Goodman;
  • 4th Pat Quinn & Donal Garvey.

Session Prizes:

  1. Peter Pigot & Derek O’Gorman;
  2. Carol-Ann Cummins & John Noonan;
  3. Diarmuid Reddan & John Phelan.

CBAI President-Elect, Gordon Lessells, has penned the following brief history of the weekend’s competition, from the County Clare perspective. He notes that the Moylan Cup will be returning to the county, courtesy of Jeannie, who is from Ennis (her partner Joan is from County Galway). The cup was presented in 1943 by Dr. Peter Moylan, an Ennis doctor and one of the founders of the Ennis Bridge Club, who was President of the CBAI in the preceding year. Originally it was awarded to the winners of a trials competition. In 1956 the Irish Bridge Union, an all-Ireland confederation, was formed and since 1957 the Moylan Cup has been presented to the winners of the IBU’s All-Ireland Pairs Championship. In 1962 and 1963, the Moylan Cup was won by Gordon Holmes, a Limerick solicitor, and Michael O’Connell from Cork. The Moylan Cup was won eight times between 1974 and 1997 by Eoin MacNeill, who was also playing in this year’s event. This year’s runner-up Tom Hanlon has won the Moylan Cup ten times, the first time in 1990; he also has at least three second-place finishes.

The first female pair to win the Moylan Cup were Ruth Giddings and Barbara Seligman in 1965. Ann Montwill and Aileen O’Keeffe won the Moylan Cup twice in 1975 and 1981. Jeannie and Joan are the first all-female winners since then. Next weekend Jeannie and Joan will be playing on the CBAI Ladies team in the Lady Milne Trophy which takes place in Perth, Scotland. A further Ennis connection among the prizewinners at the weekend was provided by Pat Quinn, who came fourth with Donal Garvey.

Burke and O’Connor Trophies 2023
  • 2023 Burke 1st
  • 2023 Burke 2nd
  • 2023 Burke 3rd
  • 2023 OConnor Winners

The IBU Inter-County Open and Intermediate Teams Championships, for the Burke and O’Connor Trophies respectively, were held in the Cavan Crystal Hotel over the weekend of 11/12 March 2023.

The prizewinners were:

Burke Trophy (Open)

1st Place: Dublin South – Peter Goodman, Aoife MacHale, Teresa Rigney, BJ O’Brien;
2nd Place: Derry – Hastings Campbell, Ian Hamilton, Zrinka Kokot, Pat McDaid;
3rd Place: Donegal – Denis Ellis, John McGinley, Connell McLoone, Margaret Farren

 

O’Connor Trophy (Intermediate)

1st Place: Donegal – Barry & Michael McMenamin, Carmel Gallinagh, Tony Carr;
2nd Place: Cavan – Josephine Brady, Kathleen Gibbons, Maria Geelan, Frances Daly;
3rd Place Meath – Nicola O’Dowd, Niamh Feeney, Linda Walsh, Sandra Peden

 

Our thanks to Tournament Director Diarmuid Reddan for ensuring the competitions ran smoothly.  You will find the session and overall results here.

IBU Interprovincial Championships 2022

The IBU Interprovincial Championships were held over the weekend of 19/20 November 2022 in the Templeogue Bridge Centre, back live for the first time since 2019.

In the Open Section, a very strong Leinster team (Tom Hanlon, John Carroll, Peter Goodman, Nick FitzGibbon, Adam Mesbur, Terry Walsh, BJ O'Brien, Karel De Raeymaeker, Conor Boland, Marcin Rudzinski, Wojciech Gorcyzca, Tomás Roche, and PC Paul Delaney) had a very convincing trap-to-line victory.

The same province also had a comfortable win in the Area Master Section (Adrienne Purdy, Martin Purdy, Eimir Beirne, Eamon Martin Jnr, Sue Power, Colette Stokes, Elizabeth O'Reilly, Helen O'Reilly, Sean Galligan, Brid Galligan, Marie James, and Fiona O'Gorman with NPC Mary Breen).

The Intermediate Section was more closely contested, with Ulster (Geraldine McNamee, Michael McNamee, Christine Stewart, Judy Young, Eric Butterwick, Bill McCormick, Robert Caves, Diana Patterson, George Harper, John Forsythe, Veronica Fay, Felicity O'Brien) emerging victorious.

Well done to all the winners, and thanks to our TD crew of Fearghal O'Boyle, Mairead Basquille, and Martin Brady. You'll find the full results here

 

Results
Senior Trials
Burke Trophy (IBU Intercounty Open Teams)
O'Connor Trophy (IBU Intercounty Intermediate Teams)
Calendar
13th April 2024
Moylan Cup (IBU All-Ireland Pairs) 13-14 April
Malahide Bridge Centre
Entry by invitation
16th April 2024
IBU Seniors Congress
Cavan Crystal Hotel
16-18 April
 More Info
11th May 2024
IBU Club Pairs (One day event)
Templeogue Bridge Centre