Linda O’Riordan and Nellie White from Cork won the main pairs tournament at Limerick congress at the weekend and, in so doing, left a strong field, which included a number of grandmasters and top-level English players, in their wake.
From the sixth round to the end, the Swiss format of the competition ensured they had to meet the strongest opponents, but they never faltered and averaged an impressive 14.6 points (out of a possible 20) per match over the last four games. BJ O’Brien and Tim Gauld were second. John and Lucy Phelan looked like winning with two rounds remaining but a poor finish, including a heavy defeat at the hands of the winners, dropped them to third. It was a successful weekend for O’Riordan and White as they were also among the prize winners in the gala pairs competition on Friday evening.
The congress team championship, which also attracted strong overseas challengers, was won by Peter Goodman, Diarmuid Reddan, Louise Mitchell and Dan McIntosh who seemed set for an easy victory until losing heavily to Maria Whelan, Tom Gilligan, Mairéad Haugh and John Noonan in the penultimate round. Whelan repeated the performance in the last round and moved up to second place as the winners recovered to score 17 points in their final match. Maureen and Bob Pattinson and John and Kelan O’Connor remained in contention throughout and were third. Goodman and McIntosh were completing a double having won the opening premier pairs event on Friday evening. Pat Quinn and Gauld were second with LizAnn Doyle and Dolores Gilliland third.
Other results from Limerick: Intermediate pairs: 1. Michael O’Donnell, Joan Maher; 2. Marie Moloney, Anne loony; 3. Tie: James McNamara, Olive Mulcahy and Fiona Place, Carmel Murphy. Gala open pairs: 1. Anne Walsh, Anne Burke; 2. Eugene Gath, James Ward; 3. O’Riordan and White. Intermediate B: Tie: 1. Maura O’Dwyer, Maria McInerney and Bridie Murphy, Rita Maher.
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Results of Northern Ireland’s home-international cum provincial trials: 1. Ian Lindsay, Ian Hamilton, 2. David and Diane Greenwood; 3. Mick Coffey, Feargal O’Shea; 4. Harold Curran, Anne Fitzpatrick.
The national mixed pairs and mixed team championships for the Spiro cup and Coen trophy respectively will be contested in person, at the bridge table in Templeogue, Dublin next weekend. The pairs tournament will start at 1.30pm on Saturday while the team competition will commence at 11.00am on Sunday.
Entries at cbai.ie.