Congratulations to Margaret Cure & Breda O’Mahony, winners of the recent Derek Stokes Pairs competition. They are pictured receiving their trophy from Evelyn Doyle, Wednesday night captain.

I had a text on Friday afternoon March 27, from Eilish Timoney, asking me how I would bid Hand 13 from the previous evening. It was imprinted in my memory as Anthony and I had come out the wrong side of it, playing against Dave Terry and Billy Ronan. (funny, this happens fairly frequently!)

North (Dave) picks up a beautifully distributional hand 6 spades, 6 hearts, 1 club, a void in diamonds, and 12 points. East (Anthony) passes. Billy, sitting south, has 15 points….5 diamonds, 5 clubs, the singleton Ace of hearts, 2 small spades and 15 points. He bids 2 diamonds. I pass. Dave now bids 3 hearts. He jumps to 3 based on shape.

Now Billy is thinking slam. He knows Dave has a lot of points OR an unusual distribution. He bids 4 clubs…..in this instance as NT has not been mentioned, 4 clubs is not gerber but a cue bid, telling partner ‘I have 1st round control in clubs’. But I think the main purpose here is to ensure Dave bids again. (Billy himself has told me since it also genuinely described his shape as well)

Now Dave could bid 4 diamonds showing 1st round control in diamonds (the void) However, I think he chooses not to, in case Billy takes it as support for his initial diamond bid. Instead he bids 4 hearts, which shows the distributional nature of his hand. Billy is rightfully wary of NT as he realizes there may be no up and down (communication)between the hands and so he bids 6 spades. Game over.

The guys make their slam (plus 1). A duck for myself and Anthony, despite us doing nothing wrong Nobody else in the room bid 6 spades……

There is a Charity Bridge Event on Holy Thursday 2nd April at 7.30.  

It is in aid of St.Francis Hospice in memory of Past President Carmel Linnane.  Entry Fee is €10 and pre-entry is advisable - to tournaments@mrbc.ie

There will be a huge raffle with great prizes.

Full details are on the attached leaflets.

Donations can also be made at https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/linnanefamily

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  Gala Fri 3rd Agnes Kelly Tony Wilkinson
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  Gala Fri 4th Margaret Cure Catherine Smyth
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  Gala Fri 5th Annette Duffy Audrey Hamilton
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  Gala Fri 6th Evelyn Doyle Helen Ahern
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  Gala Fri Best A Mary Kennedy Brendan Blacklock
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  Club/Gala Fri Best B Gay Connolly Cynthia Halpin
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  Mixed Fri 2nd Mary Timoney Donek Szenejko
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  Mixed Fri 3rd Brendan Helen Sheridan
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  Mixed Fri 4th Brendan Rushe Rosemary OBrien
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  Novice Pairs Fri 2nd Fiona Carrig Julie Taylor
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  Novice Pairs Fri 3rd Catherine John Kinane
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  Novice Pairs Fri 4th Fionnuala Burke Caroline Mahon
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  Novice Pairs Fri 5th Ann Hoban Ciaran OhObain

Above are the various prize winners from the Congress on Friday.

Congratulations to All.

Catherine Carabine and Deirdre Lonergan (Kit Kat Sisters) completed a great double by winning the Intermediate A Teams competition along with Marian Keane and Jean Carberry. 

Catherine and Deirdre also win the Intermediate A Pairs.

Dave Terry, Tom Gilligan, Billy Ronan and Conor O'Hara had a great result in finishing third against a top class field in the Congress Teams.

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The first night of the Congress was a great success with huge entries in all events.

The Winners were :   Anna Carr and Margaret Farren in the Gala Pairs, Imelda Lambkin and Niamh Quinn in the Novice pairs and Deirdre Tuckey and Seamus Costello in the Mixed Pairs.

Following the AGM on 22nd May and subsequent Council meeting the following are the council members for 2025/6.

President - Anthony McMackin,

Bar Manager - Patricia Brennan.

Social Secretary - Mary Chambers 

Secretary - Catherine Deegan.

Treasurer - Niall Duffy.

Facilities Officer - Kathy Murphy.

Technology Officer - Eilish Timoney.

Tournaments Officer - Nora Weafer.

The following is one of the items on the Smart Card Information Tab.

How do I check my balance.

If you make any purchase at the bar using your Smart Card you will get a receipt with your balance on it.

You can also go to the Bar with your Smart Card and ask the Bar Person for the balance or for a list of recent transactions. 

You can also get it online through the Smart Club Cloud App (which you can download to your phone) - Click on Smart Card - then on the page which appears click on the three rectangles on the top right of the screen.  These will then allow you to view your Transaction History.

You can logon to SmartClubCloud | Login Page - Go to the Top Up Icon - Scroll down through that and you will see a Transaction History Tab. Fill in the details and this will show your transaction History.

To login online your username will be in the form firstname.surname.number - e.g. joe.soap.567 and you should have set up your own password.