The Lady Milne trials took place over the weekend in Templeogue. The winners, who will represent Ireland in the Lady Milne Trophy in Gormanstown in April 2024, were Joan Kenny, Jeannie Fitzgerald, Siobhan Part, Teresa Rigney, Gilda Pender, and Hilary McDonagh (Dowling-Long). Five of this squad very nearly won the Lady Milne for Ireland the first time ever last season, so hopefully they can go one better this year. And if they can’t, we have another team in the event this year, as hosts, so the runners-up from the trials, Noreen Pender, Kathleen Vaughan, Anna Carr, and Margaret Farren, will also represent us, as the CBAI Team. They are in the process of adding a third pair to make a squad of six. This will be a first Irish cap for Anna and Margaret. Congratulations and best wishes to both teams, and thanks to Tournament Director Fearghal O’Boyle for making sure everything went smoothly over the weekend. You’ll find full results from the trials here.
Team Moran took part in the Champions Cup in Dubrovnik, and had a good run, occupying one of the four qualification spots for much of the competition. Two heavy defeats in their last three rounds, unfortunately, saw them drop out of contention for a place in the finals. However, the team rallied well, and came out on top of the repêchage competition, finishing fifth overall. Well done to (left-to-right below) Conor Boland, Tom Hanlon, Tommy Garvey, John Carroll, Mark Moran, NPC Gráinne Barton, and Adam Mesbur.
Finally, the weekend also saw the Kenmare Congress, run efficiently as always by TD Huey Daly. The winners of the various competitions were:
- Mixed Pairs: Anna Maria McSweeney & Phil Cretch
- Congress & Intermediate Pairs: Denis Sheehan & Kay Cussen; Best Intermediate: Pat Twomey & Kyrle Allen
- Congress Teams: Gordon Lessells, Mark Burke, Derek O’Gorman, Rory Boland
Next up we have the IBU Interprovincial (invitation only), the Kilkenny Congress (24/26 November), and the Master Pairs in Templeogue (9/10 December).