The annual Interprovincial Tournament was held at Knightsbrook Hotel and Span in Trim, Co. Meath on the last weekend in November.  As always, the entire competition was conducted in great spirit - and there were more slams per session than most of us could remember in competition for many a long year!  

IN the end, each competition could have only one winner.  Munster claimed the Intermediate competition and Regional/Area Master challenge for the Fearghal O'Boyle Trophy.  The Leinster Open team stepped up to prevent a clean sweep by Munster.  

Our thanks as always to the superb TD team of Fearghal, Mairead and Brian Lawlor, who helped to make the tournament a joy for all to play in.

At the IBU Annual Meeting in CityNorth Hotel, Gormanstown, Co. Meath on Monday, 18th August 2025, Gordon Lessells of CBAI was installed as IBU President.

Gordon is pictured here after receiving the chain of office from the outgoing President, Heather Hill of NIBU.

Everyone at IBU wishes President Gordon every good fortune for the year, and we thank Heather for her dedication and commitment over the last year.

The final tournament of the IBU season was held on 24/25 May, in the traditional venue of LaMon Hotel.

It was an event in which custom prevailed, with last year's winners John Carroll, Conor Boland, Adam Mesbur and Nick Fitzgibbon in the winners' circle and retaining the trophy.  Indeed, so strong was their defence of the crown that the title had been decided even before the final round was played.  The remainder of the field was headed by a strong team of Rebecca O'Keeffe, Gilda Pender, Thomas MacCormac and Peter Pigot, but the holders were not to be denied.

Our thanks to NIBU for organising the event and to Alan Hill for directing efficiently and effectively.  Full results are on fob.ie, and can be found >here<.

The two IBU Pairs championships, Open and Intermediate, took place in the Templeogue Bridge Centre on Saturday, 10th May.  These two one-day events provide a great masterpoints challenge towards the end of the season, and we were delighted to see the numbers playing in both competitions, despite the wonderful weather!

In the Open section, Carol-Ann Cummins and John Noonan emerged victorious, chasing down John and Lucy Phelan's first session lead.  All five of the top pairs in the first session remaining in the top 5 overall, but Tony Ward and John Kiernan pipped the others to take third place.

The Intermediate results showed the strength of our emerging talent, with Intermediate B pairs taking three of the top four places!  Special congratulations go to winners Charles and Anthony Alken, and to Joan Peppard and Tom Roche on tjeir third place, with Sandra Peden and Linda Walsh splitting the B-pairs and coming second.

Our thanks to all who played, to the Templeogue Bridge Centre for hosting the events, and to our excellent TDs, John Royds and Bernard Higgins, for a fabulous day all round.  Full results are on this website (go to Results page), and also see the pictures of our session, Inter B and Novice prizewinners below.

The last weekend in April saw the IBU’s All-Ireland Pairs Championship (for the Moylan Cup), held in the Malahide Bridge Centre  Competition was, as always, vigorous but ultimately the prize winners were:

• 1st Anna Onishuk & Karel De Raeymaeker
• 2nd Cian Holland & Pat Quinn

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• 3rd Mark Moran & John Carroll
• 4th BJ O’Brien & Derek O’Gorman
• Session Prizes: Thomas MacCormac & Peter Pigot; Evgenia Gladysheva & Konstantin Rabkin (who actually came top of the pile in both session 2 and session 3!); Bill O’Hanlon & Tony Ward

Check here for the full results.  Our thanks go to the committee and staff of the Malahide Regional Bridge Centre for all their work on preparation and hospitality, to CBAI for their support for the event; and to TD Eamonn Galligan for running an efficient and disciplined competition as always! 

It was heartening to see the continuing increase in numbers playing at the IBU Seniors Congress in the Cavan Crystal Hotel this week, as enthusiasm for in-person play continues to revive. Good representation from both sides of the border always contributes to the friendly and cheerful atmosphere at this annual event.

The Congress Pairs for the Pat McDevitt Trophy was the usual nip-and-tuck duel of the part scores, with Maria Donegan and Sean Mulvaney emerging as clear winners through two strong sessions (no matter what Sean was saying at the table!).  Enda Glynn and Paul Barrett (2nd) and Mary Timoney and Donek Szenejko (3rd) did their best to chase them down, to no avail.

The Congress Teams started with the customary roller-coaster of heavy wins and grim defeats before the leader-board settled down after the break and every tenth was being closely fought.  In the final top-of-the-table clashes, Conor Moore's team of Dave Ryan, Jim McAndrew and Finian O'Donoghue scored heavily to leap ahead, while a narrow defeat for Paul Delaney, David Dunne, Dolores Gilliland and Peter Stewart saw them fall back to 2nd.  Anne Keating, Frances Kelly and Adrienne and Martin Purdy completed the podium places.

The main events were supported by the Gala Pairs on Tuesday, won by John Hopkins and Keith Clarke from Willie Corby and Doreen McInerney, with Phil Geoghegan and James Newman coming in 3rd.

We had fabulous support as always from NorthEastern Region, and in particular the local clubs who filled the room for Open Pairs on Wednesday evening.  As always, Fearghal, Mairead and Peter Byrne shepherded us calmly and firmly and made sure the Congress was the joy that it always should be - as the scrolling pictures of all our prize-winners below will show!  You can find full results of all the events >here<.

The annual Intercounty Championships for Intermediates and Masters were held at the Cavan Crystal Hotel on 8th/9th March 2025.  

The Masters competition for the Burke trophy saw last year's holders emerge victorious to retain their title.  Finding themselves well down the field after the first session, the team of Paul Delaney, Tomas Roche, Martin Brady and David Dunne made strong and steady progress over the remainder of the competition, hitting the front only as the last round commenced to show remarkable timing.  Commiserations to teams COSTELLO (2nd) and O'BRIEN (3rd), who fought valiantly all the way.  Results can be found here.

Although the entry for the Intermediate event was small, it produced a very tight competition with three teams vying for top spot throughout the event, with the result was decided only in the final round.  Congratulations to the championship-winning team of Simon Burrell, Vicky Pigot, Sarann Doyle and Kay Falkner-Sheridan, and well done to the second and third-placed teams of GALLINAGH and GRIFFIN on a great fight.  The results of the O'Connor are here.

We look forward now to welcoming many of our members at the IBU Senior Congress, from 22nd - 24th April at the Cavan Crystal Hotel.

As always, the 2024 Interprovincial Championships were keenly fought and played in excellent spirit.  After a demanding weekend, the honours across the three tournaments were shared by three provinces!

Our congratulations go to all the winning teams and, indeed, to all the players for making the competition the enjoyable festival of bridge that it has always provided.

Our champions in each class are shown below, and the full results can be found here.

Open Champions: Leinster Standing: Peter Pigot, Matthew O'Farrell, Conor Boland, Gordon Lessells (IBU), Padhraig O'Briain, Micheal O'Briain, Siobhan Part, Terry Walsh. Seated: BJ O'Brien, Peter Goodman, Moya Murphy (President, Dublin South Region), Teresa Rigney, David Dunne, Paul Delaney.

Regional/Area Master Champions and winners of the Fearghal O'Boyle Trophy: Munster Standing: Geoff Roberts, Brian Madden, Joe Carroll, Gordon Lessells (IBU), Gerry McCague, Sean Mulvaney and Neil Breheny. Seated: Margaret Cunningham, Verna Brownlow, Margaret Holmes, Eugene Gath, Ronnie O'Shaughnessy and Rosaleen Glasheen.

Intermediate Champions: Ulster Standing: Geraldine McNamee, John Forsythe, George Harper, Lesley Ager, Liz Thomas, Gordon Lessells (IBU), Melissa Brady, Mary Maguire, Michael Coffey (NPC) Seated: Judy Young, Mary Flynn, Michael McNamee, Anna Shalvey, Kathleen McCabe.

It has been an exciting ten days for the Irish teams at the World Bridge Games!  Representing us were:

OPEN: Mark Moran, John Carroll, Tom Hanlon, Conor Boland, Adam Mesbur, Nick FitzGibbon, NPC Grainne Barton

WOMEN: Joan Kenny, Jeannie Fitzgerald, Louise Mitchell, Lucy Phelan, Anne Fitzpatrick, Mary Kelly-Rogers, NPC Paul Porteous

MIXED: Sandra Newell, Claudiu Dima, Michelle Moloney, Marcin Rudzinski, Mairead Haugh, Justin Corfield, NPC John Phelan

Congratulations in particular to our Open team, which has made it through the knock-out phase (concluding with a strong win over the leading US team in their group!).  In a nail-biting finish against a tough Polish team, their late charge was not quite enough to pull ahead and they were pipped 83-80 IMPs.

Thanks to all who watched and supported the teams throughout the tournament and those who contributed to the fund-raising activity - and in particular to the many players who sent messages of support throughout the Games.

>>> Link to Results <<<

At the IBU Annual Meeting in CityNorth Hotel, Gormanstown, Co. Meath on Monday, 19th August 2024, Heather Hill of NIBU was installed as IBU President.

Heather is pictured here after receiving the chain of office from the outgoing President, Peter O'Meara.

Everyone at IBU wishes President Heather every good fortune for the year, and we thank Peter O'Meara for his dedication and commitment over the last year.