Congratulations to England, who defended their Lady Milne title successfully in CityNorth Hotel, Gormanstown, over the weekend. It was a close-fought battle; going into the final segment of 16 boards, Scotland, Ireland, and England all had realistic ambitions of the title, and Wales were probably just too far back to win, but still had their eyes on second place. But England rallied from a half-time deficit to beat Northern Ireland, and secure victory overall by a margin of just over 4 VPs. For the second year in a row, Ireland finished an agonising second, so the wait for our first Lady Milne title will go on for at least one more year. Wales were third, Scotland fourth, the CBAI team fifth, and Northern Ireland sixth. The winners are pictured below receiving their trophy from CBAI President Gordon Lessells – left-to-right Sally Anoyrkatis, Venetia Anoyrkatis, Sally Brock, Anne Rosen, NPC Heather Dhondy, Maggie Knottenbelt, Nevena Senior.
Thanks to all who made the weekend a success – the hotel and its staff, who made sure all our needs were looked after, our TD crew of Fearghal O’Boyle, Mairead Basquille, and John Phelan, CBAI President Gordon Lessells who attended for the entire weekend, and brought a thoughtful gift for each of the teams, and Vugraph Co-Ordinator Eamon Galligan and the many local players who came out to provide Vugraph coverage of every single board played over the weekend. Events like this would not be possible without all that support, and we are grateful to all concerned. Full results here.
We are also pleased to report that the annual IBU Seniors Congress in the Cavan Crystal Hotel last week was a great success, with numbers up in all categories on the previous year. Kevin O’Dea and Liam Maher scored a notable double, winning both the pairs and the teams. Many thanks to Aileen Timoney, who co-ordinates this congress so effectively, to the local clubs that provided their equipment, and to TDs Fearghal O’Boyle and Mairead Basquille, who had a busy week. The prizewinners were:
- Congress Pairs: Kevin O’Dea & Liam Maher
- Congress Teams: Kevin O’Dea, Liam Maher, Peter Stewart, Dolores Gilliland
- Gala Pairs; Phil Geoghegan & James Newman
- Open Pairs: Dara Voyles & Nicola O’Dowd, Sinead McCann & Paddy McDermott, Patsy Gibney & Pat Plunkett