Drogheda Congress 2018

Drogheda Congress takes place this weekend with the redoubtable Fearghal O'Boyle at the helm one expects.

All details on everything on Drogheda Congress can be found at the link below

Drogheda Bridge Congress 2018

The Lady Milne trials took place last weekend with 8 pairs qualifying for the squad which will form 2 teams to take part in the Lady Milne Trophy in Gormanston in April 2019.

Congratulations to Gilda Pender and Hilary McDonagh who are the first pair to reach the magic 130 VP quota in just 10 rounds and qualify for the top 8 group.  They have just been followed over the line in round 11 by Teresa Rigney and Joan Kenny and also by Ann O’Connell and Valerie Burke-Moran.  Louise Mitchell and Maureen Pattinson along with Jean Kelly and Betty Cotter, Emer Joyce and Kathleen Vaughan , join the list of qualifiers after round 12.  That leaves just two places to fill in the last round!  Those two places go to Dolores Gilliland and Lucy Phelan and to Cathy Bearpark and LizAnn O’Reilly.  Well done to all.

The above running commentary as the pairs qualified has been taken from 

Fearghals website

All details on Lady Milne trials 2018 can be found there

While visiting Fearghals website I spotted a mention of the 2018 Camrose trials.
7 teams have entered

CBAI Camrose Trials
7 teams have entered for this years Camrose Trials.  The draw for team numbers will be based on the results of tonight’s Lotto draw (Wed 3rd October).  The first 7 numbers drawn on the night will be assigned to the 7 teams in the order listed below.  The teams will then be ordered in ascending order of their lotto number and then renumbered 1 to 7.  Lotto Numbers in brackets.

4.   Micheal O’Briain, Padraig O’Briain, BJ O’Brien, Ranald Milne (32)

1.   Tom Hanlon, John Caroll, Mark Moran, Donal MacAonghusa (3)

7.   Ciaran Coyne, Derek O’Gorman, David Walsh, Enda Glynn, Gay Keaveney, Pat McDevitt (46)

3.   Martin Brady, Paul Delaney, John Phelan, Lucy Phelan, Conor Boland, Karel de Raeymaeker (10)

5.   Thomas MacCormac, Ronan McMaugh, Marcin Rudzinski, John Connolly, Stephen Barr, Michael Donnelly (33)

2.  Diarmuid Reddan, Louise Mitchell, Bob Pattinson, Maureen Pattinson (4)

6.  Richard Elvin, Kathleen Vaughan, Maria Whelan, Eileen O’Donovan (35)

I wonder did Fearghal use those numbers .. I heard there was a winner in Dublin.

...........
I am afraid its still Team 1  Thomas Hanlon team for me. I knew the Hanlon team has something missing. McGann is gone on his holidays. However the new MacAonghusa Moran partnership is bedding in well.

Team 2 ... Diarmuid Reddan ... 4 person team ... stamina will wear them down despite the presence of their two grandmasters of bridge.

Team 3 .., Martin Brady .. 3 full internationals along with the experienced Brady Delaney and the intelligent Conor Boland. They are good swimmers but they are not sharks.

Team 4   O'Briain brothers plus BJ and Ranald.. well 3 of them can almost walk to the venue.
However a 4 man team with their best days behind them is going to tire as each day ends.
Maybe they need to have a couple of substitutes on the side just in case.
I would play 12 boards for 50 euros if they need.

Team 5 Thomas MacCormac ... Now here is a team that won't be phased by any other team.
4 of these lads have been attending US Nationals for the last few years and on one occasion took on the world reknowned NICKEL team in a 64 board match losing narrowly. (on each board)
They are the Irish arm of the Great American Bridge Tour.

Team 6 .. Richard Elvin ... This team will need to find much improvement on recent form to
remain competitive.

Team 7 Ciaran Coyne ...A 6 man team with plenty of experience who put it up to the full
Hanlon team in last years IBU trials and only fell away in the last stanza.

I will say top 3 teams will be MacCormac Coyne and Hanlon .. Its a round robin so one heavy loss
to another favourite could end a teams interest. I don't know the conditions of contest but I presume its first past the post. This means on Monday afternoon there could be room for some sportsman dumping. However Hanlon should be able to win from the front starting off with ELVIN.

I made a video of me losing to the country gentleman YET AGAIN ..

Galligan v Country Gentleman

Losing by 24 imps ..