Congratulations to the Dublin South team of Teri Farrell (Novice), Catherine Egan (Intermediate B), Pat Egan (Intermediate A), and John Reilly (Master) who won the national 4Fun Teams final held in Westmanstown on Saturday 3 June.  This is the second triumph in a row for Dublin South in this event.  Well done also to the other Dublin South teams who took part and apologies again to those who qualified but were unable to play due to the change of date.  Here's to a hat-trick for Dublin South in 2018.

The 4Fun Teams is a recent, and very welcome, addition to the bridge calendar.  The concept was initiated in 2009 by Frank Kelly.  The format is designed to encourage players who haven't played bridge in formal competitions outside their home club to do so in a fun and friendly setting, and to introduce new players to Teams bridge.

There is a national 4Fun teams final held every year for the Frank & Brenda Kelly Trophy.  The 2019 national final will be held on Saturday 25 May in Westmanstown.  Here in Dublin South, we will hold two qualifiers for the national final, with at least three teams qualifying from each - the first in the RDS Bridge Club on Friday 26 October 2018, and the second in Milltown Golf Club on Monday 28 January 2019, the latter starting at 7:00 p.m.

The format is a team of four, with each team consisting of a Novice, and Intermediate B, an Intermediate A, and a Master.  As was the case last year, for this year's national final the Novice and Intermediate B players will play together as as a pair throughout, and will play against their direct opponents from the other team, as will the Master and Intermediate A players.  In Dublin South, we have chosen to maintain the old format (Novice and Master, Intermediate B and Intermediate A pairings) for our qualifiers.

Only a limited system (described here http://cbai.ie/competitions/documents/BIDDINGSYSTEMFOR4FUNTEAMS.pdf) is permitted, to eliminate the need to be familiar with a lot of bidding conventions.   The Master players are specifically asked to to be as helpful and unintimidating as possible to their less experienced partners, and the Tournament Directors have specific instructions to be sympathetic to the Novice players.  So it is a great way to experience outside competition, and to learn from more experienced players, and we would encourage as many people as possible to play in this year's event.  You can either enter a full team or an incomplete one in which case we will do our best to fill the relevant gaps for you.  Entries please to Deirdre Fallon 087-6632111.

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  Regent 4Fun Teams 3rd Place
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  Regent 4Fun Teams RunnersUp
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  Regent 4Fun Teams Winners

The third and final of this year's three 4Fun teams qualifiers was held in the Regent Bridge Club on Friday 15 January.  Our thanks to the Regent, in particular their club manager Declan Byrne (who also managed to play, with some success!), for hosting the event, and to Maurice O'Leary for directing.  10 teams took part, with the winners, and also possibly the other placed teams, qualifying for the national final.  The prizwinners, pictured with DSR Deputy President Dermot O'Brien, were:

1st: Sharon McDermott (Novice), Derick Mulvey (Intermediate B), Elaine Fitzpatrick (Intermediate A), Conor Moore (Master)

2nd: Gareth Simpson (N), Niamh Harty (B), Ruth Maher (A), Declan Byrne (M)

3rd: Paula Kilbane (N), Mary Aird (B), Angela O'Neill (A), Dermot O'Brien (M)

Milltown 4Fun Teams Qualifier 2019

Section A Winners	Section A Runners Up
Section B Winners	Section B Runners Up
Section C Winners	Section C Runners Up
Section D Winners	Section D Runners Up

Another sucessful and very enjoyable qualifier for 4Fun Teams was held on Monday 28th Jan 2019, with thanks to Milltown Golf Bridge Club for hosting and Brian Lawlor for directing the tournament as well as all the hard working DSR committee who ensured everything ran smoothly.

There were 24 teams playing in 4 sections and the winner in each section will qualify for the National 4 Fun Teams Final which will be held on Sat 25th May in Westmanstown.

Pictured above are all the prize winners on the night with President of Dublin South Brid Kemple.

Full results are here 4Fun Teams Milltown GC 2019.pdf.

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There was a great entry of twenty-four teams in the first of our 4Fun Teams Qualifiers which was held on Friday 26 October in the beautiful surroundings of the RDS library. The competition was played in four sections of six teams.  Most of the groups were very closely contested, with one even being decided on "countback" - the result of the direct match between two teams tied at the top of the standings.

Bríd Kemple, President of Dublin South Region was on hand to welcome everyone and to present the prizes.  All four section winners will qualify for the National 4Fun Final, with the runners-up possibly qualifying depending on the countrywide take up of spots.

Thanks to all the DSR committee for all their hard work on making this a successful and enjoyable night, to the RDS Bridge Club for hosting the event, and to tournament director Maurice O'Leary.

Full Results Click here

In section order, the prizewinning teams, pictured with DSR President Bríd Kemple, were:

Group 1 Winners:  Mary Hanlon (Novice), Paul Doyle (Intermediate B), Joy Manning (Intermediate A), Teresa Walker (Master)

Group 1 Runners-Up:  Carol Horan (Novice), Cassandra Byrne (Intermediate B), Teresa Gavin (Intermediate A), Mike Gowie (Master)

Group 2 Winners:  Catherine O'Shea (Novice), Ciara Gleeson (Intermediate B), Ruth Peare (Intermediate A), Deirdre Fallon (Master)

Group 2 Runners-Up:  Mary Mac Aodha (Novice), Jeremy James (Intermediate B), Mary Hickey (Intermediate A), Blathnaid Trayer (Master)

Group 3 Winners:  Liam Swaine (Novice), Anne Talbot (Intermediate B), Gillford D'Souza (Intermediate A), Paddy Graham (Master)

Group 3 Runners-Up:  John Murray (Novice), Declan Moran (Intermediate B), Colette Stokes (Intermediate A), Fiona O'Gorman (Master)

Group 4 Winners:  Maeve Cassidy (Novice), Joan Hayes (Intermediate B), Michael Cassidy (Intermediate A), Sheila Horkan (Master)

Group 4 Runners-Up:  Yvonne Flanagan (Novice), Renee Doyle (Intermediate B), Mary Meggs (Intermediate A), Tony Casey (Master)

There was a great entry of 24 teams in the first of our 4Fun Teams Qualifiers which was held on Friday 26th October in the beautiful surroundings of the RDS library. The competition was played in 4 sections with the winner of each section qualifying for the National 4Fun Final next year.

Brid Kemple, President of Dublin South Region was on hand to welcome everyone and to present the prizes to winners and runners up in each section (see pictures below).

Thanks to all the DSR committee for all their hard work on making this a successful and enjoyable night and to tournament director Maurice O'Leary.

Full Results Click here

Prize Winners RDS 4Fun Teams

Winners Section 1	Winners Section 4	Winners Section 3
Winners Section 2	RunnersUp Section1	RunnersUp Section3
RunnersUp Section2	RunnersUp Section4