BJ (Brendan) O’Brien reached a milestone in his bridge career at the weekend when he claimed his 30th national title as South Dublin won the all-Ireland intercounty, intercity team championship for the Burke trophy in Cavan. Teresa Rigney, Peter Goodman and Aoife MacHale completed the winning side.
Second at the end of the first session behind Donegal, the eventual winners dropped to third after the second set but were still in contention, although with some ground to make up entering the final stages. At this point Derry (Hastings Campbell, Ian Hamilton, Pat McDaid and Zrinka Kokot) and Donegal (Denis Ellis, John McGinley, Connell McLoone and Margaret Farren) fought for supremacy at the head of the field.
However, the winners had the best final session of the contenders to win by a mere two points from Derry, with Donegal a further two points behind in third. Dublin City representatives Martin Brady, David Dunne, Tomás Roche and Paul Delaney were never far behind and finished fourth. Kerry (Trish Stack, Nicky Fitzgibbon, John and Kelan O’Connor) was fifth, and Fermanagh (Mary Kelly-Rogers, Francis Gibbons, Mary Timoney and Donek Szenejko) sixth.
Among his 30 major victories O’Brien has held every major trophy on the calendar at least once. He won four national events during the Covid crisis but since they were played online they were not recognised as national titles. In addition he has won three national senior championships and a record 16 interprovincial titles playing for Leinster. This was his ninth Burke trophy success. He is one of the all-time top five master-point holders.
It was Rigney’s third national championship win of the current season, while Goodman, who has represented Wales as well as Ireland in international competition, and MacHale are former national title holders.
Donegal proved to be the leading county of the weekend’s competitions. Its representatives in the intermediate-grade championship for the Michael O’Connor trophy: Barry and Michael McMenamin, Carmel Gallinagh and Tony Carr, had a runaway victory and finished more than 30 points – the equivalent of a match and a half – clear of the home side and runners-up Cavan (Josephine Brady, Kathleen Gibbons, Maria Geelan and Frances Daly). Meath (Nicola O’Dowd, Niamh Feeney, Linda Walsh and Sandra Peden) were third, and Dublin (Bob Neilson, Kerri Nolan, Paul Clinch and Jeremy James) fourth.
Next weekend will be a free one for competitors on the national tournament circuit.
This content was originally published here.
