Cork Congress was held over the weekend, with a great turnout in spite of the adverse weather conditions last Friday. The winners of the main events were:
- Congress Pairs: Peter Goodman & Aoife MacHale
- Intermediate Pairs: Anne Burkley & Margaret Murray
- Novice Pairs: Patricia O’Donovan & Aideen Canning
- Premier Pairs: Louise Mitchell & Pat Quinn
- Congress Teams: Cian Holland, Dermot Cotter, Donal Garvey, Pat Quinn
- Open Pairs: Paddy & Margaret Dennehy; Eileen Kelleher & Catherine Slattery; Deirdre O’Driscoll & Carmel Connolly; Betty Cody & Margaret King
Thanks to Tournament Director Diarmuid Reddan for making sure everything ran smoothly. We also had the first payout under the new Munster Congresses Loyalty Card Scheme, an initiative proposed by former CBAI President Gordon Lessells, and backed by the CBAI. If you play in five novice or open pairs events in Munster congresses (of which there are eight in all during the season) and get your loyalty card stamped, then your sixth game is free, and the CBAI pays the entry fee to the congress. We had six claims under the scheme in Cork, a good sign that people are playing in multiple congresses, which was the objective of the scheme. The next Munster congress is Clonmel at the end of March.
Finally, a reminder that the new online EBL Seniors’ Championship will take place on RealBridge between 27-30 January and 3-6 February and kibitzers are welcome, via this link. We have six Irish representatives (Peter Goodman, Terry Walsh, Ranald Milne, BJ O’Brien, Pádraig Ó Briain, Micheál Ó Briain) on a team also containing Welsh and English players, and the Irish players tell us they’ll also be doing some commentating when they’re not playing, so you’ll hear some familiar voices if you tune into the commentary. You’ll find full details of the competition, including the schedule. here.