The final rounds of the home-international bridge championship fell victim to the freezing weather at the weekend. The Camrose trophy was due to be competed for at the City North Hotel in Gormanstown, Co Meath. Bridge Great Britain, the organising body, is to meet to determine whether the event can be rescheduled. England is the half-way leader with Ireland in close contention.
A total of 12,354 players in 339 centres took part in the Contract Bridge Association of Ireland’s simultaneous pairs competitions, the results of which are now complete.
The leading scores were: Monday deals: 1. Fran Swift, Leisa Part (Newbridge) 77.72 per cent; 2. Eileen O’Donovan, Bridie O’Connor (Aghada) 75.39; 3. Eddie Broe, Anne Delaney (Glasnevin) 72.54; Tuesday: 1. Colm Kelly, Breda Murphy (Acorn, Carlow) 76.60; 2. Catherine Murphy, Carolyn Dore (Naas) 73.07; 3. Bernadette Conroy, Bridie Hyland (Clifden) 72.83; Wednesday: 1. Robert and Lynne Knight (Letterkenny) 72.07; 2. Margaret O’Shaughnessy, Kathleen Duggan (Corbally) 71.91; 3. Philip O’Grady, Robert Delargy (Galway) 71.12; Thursday: 1. Kay Clement, Linda O’Regan (Millstreet) 77.89; 2. Susan Cranley, Finola Murphy (Galway) 71.28; 3. Eileen Turley, Lelia Comber (Midland) 70.93; Friday: 1. Mary Berney, Carmel Gleeson (New Abbey) 71.45; 2. Dermot Cotter, Cian Holland (Cork) 69.11; 3. Chris Desmond, Ted Rooney (New Abbey) 67.63.
The unexpected death has occurred of Jill Kulchycky, one of Ireland’s leading international players. The most-capped Irish player in the women’s home-international championship, she also represented Ireland in European and world contests. Only a fortnight ago, in partnership with Teresa Rigney, Ms Kulchycky won the national trials resulting in her selection for the Irish women’s team to take part in the European championships in Begium in June.
The Irish Bridge Union’s senior congress, which is confined to players who were born in or before 1957, will take place at the Cavan Crystal Hotel from Tuesday March 20th to 22nd, starting with a gala pairs competition. The pairs title will be decided on Wednesday and the team championship on Thursday, with both competitions starting at 11am. Eddie Fitzgerald and Michael MacDonagh will be attempting to win the Irish senior pairs title and the Pat McDevitt trophy for the fifth year in a row. Open pairs competitions, for which there is no age restriction, will he held on Wednesday at 1.30pm and 7.00pm and on Thursday at 11am and 3pm. Entries for the main competitions will be accepted via competitions@cbai.ie or (01) 4929666.