Local players kept the big prizes at home at Cork congress at the weekend. Cian Holland registered a double while Linda O’Riordan and Nellie White continued their successful season by winning the pairs championship.
On Friday, Holland and Anne Dillon had a resounding mixed pairs win and finished well clear of Moira Roche, Noel Bradfield with Anne Keating, Dermot O’Brien and Mary Clancy, Ger Mac Sweeney in a tie for third.
On Sunday, Holland, Derek O’Gorman, Donal Garvey and Pat Quinn won the team contest at the end of a protracted battle with John and Kelan O’Connor, Kay Cussen and Denis Sheehan. The battle seemed to be settled when O’Connor decisively beat Holland in the head-to-head match before the interval and went on to take a 12-point lead into the last round. However, a disastrous final result for O’Connor coupled with a big last-match score for Holland put the latter in front by a single point.
Dave Terry, Pat Cassidy, Tom Gilligan and Seán Connor, who played steadily throughout and were never far behind the leaders, were a close third.
[ Bridge notes: England takes commanding lead in Camrose trophy at the weekendOpens in new window ]
O’Riordan and White won the pairs championship with a good margin to spare over Joe Higgins and Mick Lavelle with Holland and O’Gorman again featuring prominently to be third.
This was O’Riordan’s and White’s second big win of the season having won at Limerick in October. The intermediate tournament was won by Margaret McCarthy and Declan Harte from their rivals and sometimes team partners John and Mary Bourke with Carmel Daly, Gerard Walsh third. These three pairs had big first-session scores and retained their respective positions to the end.
Seán Maguire, Ruth O’Dea, Maeve Delaney and Kate Daultry won the O’Kennedy cup competition in Dún Laoghaire on Sunday. BJ O’Brien, Alan O’Sullivan, Dolores Gilliland and LizAnn O’Reilly were second, Alan Pinder, Adrian Meagher, Caroline and Fearghal O’Nolan third.
In France, Tom Hanlon’s mainly French team, attempting to win the French League for the third successive year, narrowly lost its semi-final match to the Zimmerman squad of Swiss, Polish and French players.
Tournament players will revert to online competition next weekend with Ennis congress events on the BBO (Bridge Base Online) website from Friday to Sunday. Details from Paul Callan 086-820 2708. Also next weekend regional team championships to qualify participants for the national finals in April will be contested. Intended participants should contact their regional secretary for details.