Summer Party, Friday 8th June 2018.

The sun shone, the pimm's was just perfect and beautiful flowers from Caroline's garden, all set the scene beautifully for our Summer Party!

Eagerly awaited and a perfect end to our bridge season, we all enjoyed a few hands of bridge followed by a delicious supper catered by The Wooden spoon.

President Roisin Quigley then made presentations to all our voluntary TD's and her right hand man Martin for all their help throughout the year, their contribution to the club is greatly appreciated. She also thanked her hardworking committee especially Maeve and Carol for organising the Summer Party!

Then of course it was time for our annual awards.

Player of the year was Caroline Crowley who had to be convinced she was the winner! "Are you sure?" She said!

This award is to the player who has the most masterpoints from our Monday Club nights and Caroline, who won 2 of our major competitions this year was indeed the winner!

Best Intermediate B was Julie Rowan, who unfortunately was away but well done Julie.

Novice player of the year was Noreen Minihan who was delighted!

Most Improved Player was an equally surprised but delighted Carol Horan. This prize is to the player who's average % improves the most from the previous season.

The prize for Most Slams Bid and Made was won jointly this year so well done to Mary Seaver and Walter McNicholas who bid and made 9 slams.

Finally Roisin presented a Spirit of Railway Union Bridge Club award to Mervyn Whaley, who although a new member this year has embraced the ethos of our club and helped out at every opportunity particularly on Thursday mornings and volunteering to represent us on Railway Committee.

Sadly our night had to come to an end but that is not the end of bridge for the Summer, don't forget that Summer Bridge will continue on Monday nights, thanks to our fantastic club members who have volunteered in true Railway spirit to run it, so look forward to seeing you over the Summer and visitors are most welcome!

Pictured with the CBAI president is Mary Kane (B), Fiona McGoldrick (N), Fionnuala O'Hanlon (M) and Niamh Harty (A).

Success for Railway Members at the 4FunTeams Final 2018

It was a busy day in Westmonstown with teams from all over Ireland representing their county/region at the 4FunTeams Final. We are delighted to report that some of our Railway members, representing Dublin South Region, placed an impressive 2nd place. The Railway members on the team included Niamh Harty and Mary Kane - well done girls! 

Collete Stokes, Anne Kelly and Marian Moran's team placed 12th.

Sue, Rita McAlinden and Martin Quigley's team were pipped at the post for 20th place. 51 teams took part so these are all excellent placings! 

Well done everyone - we look forward to taking part in the qualifier for next year's event.

Presidents Prize 2018

Congratulations to Sue Power & Colette Stokes who won this year's President's Prize against great competition, a well deserved win for the girls with a great score of 65.34%!

Second place went to Kevin & Gemma O'Toole. 

Third place went to Anne Kelly & Mary Lynn, highest placed Inter B's on the night!

Fourth place went jointly to Marie Carew & Celia Magahy and Kieran Crowley & Tony Hayes.

Sixth place went to Mervyn Whaley & Walter McNicholas.

Seventh place to Fiona McNicholas and Noreen Minihan, who were highest placed novices in the competition.

Well done everybody! 

John Burke Trophy 2018

Congratulations to the Caroline Crowley and Marianne Gorman who are this years winners of the John Burke Trophy. Caroline and Marianne are pictured here with Mary Burke presenting the Trophy which is in memory of her father John who was an avid bridge player. 

Joint second place winners are Bob Neilson and Aine Conolly, and Walter McNicholas and Mary Lynn, and third place to Mary Seaver and Martin Cowley, Well done everybody!

IBU Club Pairs Final in Templegogue

The IBU Club Pairs final took place in Templegoue and it was great to see Railway Union so well represented in both the Novice/Bs and the Intermediate and Master.

Well done to Marianne Gorman & Jackie O'Neill who won the first session prize in the Inter Bs - and huge congratulations to Niamh Harty who won Best Intermediate - and as a result we should have a new Area Master in our midst in September!

And not forgetting the rest who slogged it out for the weekend - great endurance over three sessions against some of the best players in the country! But as we say...  'what else would we be doing on a sunny weekend in May' 

Pembroke Cricket Club celebrate their 150th anniversary this year and our morning bridge group who play in Pembroke marked the occasion recently with a delicious cake! Pictured are Mervyn Whaley ( Pembroke cricket Club) and our President Roisin Quigley looking forward to enjoying some of that yummy cake!

Success for Railway at the Cooper Cup 

Fiona and Caroline, with their teammates Derick and Chantal, being presented with their prize for 3rd Place in the Cooper Cup

The Lambert Trophy (Pairs), the Cooper Cup (Teams) and the JJ Murphy Novice - all major National Competitions, took place in the Nurermore Hotel this weekend and it was great to see so many faces from Railway taking part. 

Carol Horan and Sarah Hardiman took part in the JJ Murphy Novice two session event and finished very well in 5th position overall - having placed 3rd in the second session on a great score of 60.33% A great achievement for the girls - it was a strong field of very experienced Novice players and it was great to see them give their opponents a run for their money! 

For the Lambert and Cooper, our Intermediate players included Maeve, Mary, Sue, Colette, Niamh, Rachel, Anne Marie, Elaine, Fiona and Caroline - again a great turnout for the club. Niamh Harty and her partner Marie James did very well in the Pairs and were just pipped at the post for the Best Inter A2 prize.

HOWEVER the highlight of the weekend has to be the super performance by Caroline and Fiona who, not only placed as 2nd Intermediate pair in the Lambert Trophy (helped by their very impressive 2nd position in the first session - in a field of nearly 100 pairs made up mostly of area masters), but then went on to place 3rd with their teammates, Derick Mulvey and Chantal McCabe in the Cooper Cup Teams the next day. Again another excellent performance and placing in a field of 48 teams.

Huge congratulations to Caroline and Fiona - their consistent performance throughout the year will definitely see the girls now rise to rank of Area Master!

Well done to all!

         Easter Egg Competition 2018         

Congratulations to Julie Rowan and Mary Burke who are this year's winners of our Easter Egg Competition.
Julie and Mary are pictured here with all the lucky winners on the night!

Well done everyone and Happy Easter

Archived news

Well done to Colette and Sue who, along with their teammates Teresa Gavin and Mike Gowie, were the winning team in the 2018 Dublin Congress Intermediates Teams competition held in Westmanstown.

Pictured with teammate Teresa Gavin, CBAI president Peter O'Meara and Congress Chairman Rory Egan (absent from pic Mike Gowie). 

Congratulations to Fiona Mc Nicholas and her husband Cormac Lynch who were 2nd in the Regent Open Novice Pairs, very well done guys!

They are pictured here receiving their prizes from Regent President Eamonn Keogh and competition Sponsor Teresa Gavin.

Kay Downes Trophy 2018

Railway Union were delighted to host the Dublin South Region's Kay Downes Trophy 2018 in our newly furbished premises.

There was a fantastic turnout of 13 tables and we welcomed members from many clubs in the region. A big thank you to the Dublin South Region President, Sheila Horkan, who arrived to present trophy - along with Niamh Gormally, who was representing her grandmother, Kay.

The winners of this years's Kay Downes trophy are Joe Farrell and Bryan Ryan with a fantastic score of 68.75 - well done guys! The top five pair all had scores in excess of 60% which is a very good night's bridge by anyone's standards!

2nd Place - Maurice Young and Elizabeth Will
3rd Place - Liz Hoctor and Tor Torma
4th Place - Kerri Nolan and Fiona McGoldrick
5th Place - Marie Hutton and Mary MacAodha

Big thanks to the Railway Union Committee and members who all helped out on the night, and to Dermot O'Brien who acted as Tournament Director. And also thanks to Railway Union Sports Club who kindly sponsored a gift of wine to the Winners!

Teas, coffees, wines and nibbles were enjoyed in the bar while hands were discussed in great detail by all.

We look forward to the next opportunity to host another successful major bridge event.

Well done to all our members who participated in the recent Dublin South Qualifier for 4Fun Teams which took place in Milltown golf club.

Congratulations to Rachel Connellan, Marie Hutton and Bernie O'Donnell who were all on winning teams and have qualified to play in the National Final in May.

Special mention to Bob Neilson, Anne Cooke and Yvonne Flanagan who were on a team from Railway coming 2nd, they may also qualify if numbers permit.

It's great to see our members especially the novices venturing out of the club to play in the Region's competitions, gaining valuable experience and increasing their confidence. Hopefully we will see lots of them participating in the Dublin South Novice Championship ( Kay Downe's Trophy) which we have the honor of hosting here in Railway on March 8th!!

Congratulations to Fiona O'Gorman, Caroline Crowley, Ruth Maher and Cassandra Byrne - the winning team of this year's Club Teams Competitition.

A big round of applause was given to this team who have won this competition for the third time - very well done girls!

Second place went to Moya and Anna Murphy, Julie Rowan and Mary Burke, while third place went to Mary Seaver, Pat Hickey, Anne Kelly, Maeve Flanagan and Mary Lynn.

Best Novice Team was won by Carol Horan, Sarah Hardiman, Maeve Cassidy and Niamh O'Grady - and best Inter B team was won by Ide Gavin, Orla Staunton, Marianne Gorman and Bernie O'Donnell.

Very well done to our Intermediate A2 player, Niamh Harty, with her partner Erika, went on to win the Best Regional Master place at the National Womens Pairs - The Jackson Cup - last weekend in Clane. The competition took place over two sessions and Niamh placed an impressive 2nd in the second session - a huge achievement in a field of 88 players - made up of mostly masters. Colette and Sue did very well also, winning the Best Intermediate A2 spot. Well done girls!

Enjoying the Christmas Festivities!

A fabulous night was had at the 2017 Christmas Party!

Again a huge thanks to the Committee - Carol, Julie and Maeve who organised everything, and to all those who helped make the night special - serving wine and mince pies and tidying up. And of couse a big thank you to Santa's Little Helper (cheers Owen!) who gave us all a good chuckle while playing bridge! Great fun was had in the bar afterwards with music and song with Louise Burke who was fabulous - but by the end of the night our bridge players took over the whole show!  

And not forgetting all our 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners on the night - Rita, Rosie, Orla, Ide, Kieran, Ann, Caroline, Cassandra, Dermot, Martin Q, Rachel and Martin C - Well done everyone!

We wish you a Happy New Year and look forward to 2018 - and lots more bridge!

Charity Night Monday 20th November : 

Total raised €2,496 in aid of The Capuchin Day Centre for the Homeless. See http://Capuchindaycentre.ie  for details of the work they do.  

Congrats to Niamh Harty and her partner Marie James on winning the BJ O'Brien Cup, the Dublin South Regional Pairs Competition. They will go on to represent the Region in the National Finals.

Also very well done to Mary Kane and Cathie Hogan who were 4 th in the Duffy Cup, the Inter B Regional Pairs and they also have qualified for the National Finals. We wish them all the best of luck in March

The Kube

A fantastic night was had by all at the Railway Union Kube Fundraiser and a big thank you to our two contestants, Fiona and Kieran, they bravely represented the bridge club!

Success for Railway at 4FunTeams Qualifiers in RDS

Railway Union had great success at the recent 4FunTeam Qualifier in the RDS, with two of our Railway Teams qualifying for the Final in Westmonstown next May.

Well done to Elaine Fitzpatrick, Mary Aird, Rita McAlinden, Martin Quigley and Sue Power who were on the winning teams in their groups and qualify for the Final. Also well done to Anne, Kelly, Carol Horan and Colette Stokes who came second in their group.

Don't forget, there is another qualifier on Monday 29 January in Miltown if anyone would like to throw their hat into the ring to qualify for the final! 

The first major competition of this season the Martin Cowley Cup took place on Monday 23rd Oct.

Storm Ophelia interfered with the first session of our annual Club Pairs, but all clouds have a silver lining as it now meant that we had a bigger entry of a whopping 32 pairs, unprecedented!! It was run by John Royds with his usual aplomb and everyone had a very enjoyable night.

The worthy winners were  Niamh and Rachel. They were presented with the beautiful Cup by Martin Cowley, who made it back from USA just on time to participate and do the honors, it wouldn’t have been the same without him!

Other Prizewinners were

2nd Fiona and Ruth

3rd Elaine and Annmarie

Best B Moya and Anna

Best Novice Fiona and Noreen

All pictured below with our president Roisin Quigley.