European bridge championships: Ireland held its bronze medal position at the 48th Prokom Software SA European bridge championships in Warsaw yesterday following another two good wins in the latest series of matches.
Not only that but the team has moved closer to Norway in second place. Silver is now a realistic ambition.
Italy won its two matches against Croatia 22-8 and England 17-13, to go further ahead of the field.
In round 23, John Carroll, Tommy Garvey, Tom Hanlon and Hugh McGann defeated Serbia 20-10, while three of Ireland's closest rivals, Iceland, Sweden and the Netherlands, all scored the maximum 25 to move into threatening positions.
In the next round, Nick FitzGibbon, Adam Mesbur with Carroll and Garvey, took on Wales. In a closely fought match the Welsh players equalled Ireland's efforts until the last of the 20 deals when in an unusual swing, Carroll and Garvey found the defence to beat a Welsh game at one table, while at the other, FitzGibbon and Mesbur beat a vulnerable one-club contract by four tricks to snatch an 18-12 victory.
Meanwhile Iceland was losing 14-16 to Hungary and Sweden was going down 10-20 to Luxembourg, results which did no damage to Ireland's prospects.
In the women's championship, England suffered a disastrous 3-25 defeat at the hands of Turkey to lose the lead to the Netherlands and Germany.
Ireland's Ena Cleary, Jeannie Fitzgerald, Ciara Burns and Mary Finn lost a keenly fought match to Germany 12-18. Burns, Finn with Northern Ireland pair Dympna Friel and Diane Greenwood, had a good match against Hungary before going down 14-16.