Ireland’s current national team, Mark Moran, John Carroll, Tom Hanlon, Hugh McGann, Nick FitzGibbon and Adam Mesbur won the May holiday weekend, online Swiss teams contest from a top-quality field that included 22 of Ireland’s 26 grand masters.
Starting with an almost perfect 20 score in the opening round, they won their subsequent matches for a win, although in a closely-fought competition they began the final round with only a six-point lead.
At the end they were 11 points clear of Derek O’Gorman, Louise Mitchell, Tommy Garvey and Dan McIntosh, winners of the Easter Swiss team event. Peter Pigot, James Heneghan, Karel de Raeymaeker, Terry Walsh and Peter Goodman were third; David Coyne, David Walsh, Enda Glynn and Gay Keaveney fourth.
The South of Ireland Congress, traditionally held in Killarney, Co Kerry, will go ahead next week as an online event on the website Bridge Base On-Line (BBO), beginning on Saturday and conducted by national tournament director Diarmuid Reddan.
One of the oldest continuous-running bridge festivals on the calendar, the Killarney congress was founded in 1944 by legendary Kerry football trainer Dr Éamonn O’Sullivan, whose aim was to attract overseas players to boost post-war tourism to the town.
The following is the programme: Saturday, May 9th, congress pairs; two sessions; Sunday 10th, mixed pairs, two sessions; Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th evenings, mixed teams; Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th, evenings, separate men’s and women’s teams; Friday 15th, one-session IMP pairs; Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th, Lough Léin trophy, teams.
There is a €4 fee per session for pairs competitions from 7.30pm. Entry to team events is free. Starting times, to be finalised with BBO, will probably be 2pm and 7pm. Inquiries and entries to diarmuid.reddan@gmail.com.
Bridge teacher
Full-time professional bridge teacher Thomas MacCormac became the country’s most recent grand master just before the Covid-19 virus ended normal competition. To mark the occasion he is sponsoring an online match: the current Ireland squad of Moran, Carroll, Hanlon, McGann, FitzGibbon and Mesbur against an Irish junior (under-26) selection: John Connolly, Conor Boland, Michael Donnelly and Stephen Barr on BBO and Zoom on Sunday, May 31st, from 10am to 12.30pm.
BJ O'Brien, John Murchan and Peter Goodman (Ireland, Northern Ireland and Welsh internationals respectively) will answer viewers' questions on Zoom afterwards. The event is to raise funds for Our Lady's Hospice and Care Services, Harold's Cross, and Blackrock Hospice. Donations via: https://give.everydayhero.com/ie/blackrock-hospice-fundraiser