C.B.A.I. Dublin North Region

Kirwan Novice League - Round 2
On Wednesday 10th December, Leo Breslin and his Donabate team hosted the 2nd round of the Kirwan Novice League with teams from Raheny, Clontarf and St Gabriel’s making the journey out and back to join them (surprisingly quick journey actually - I was home in Killester in 20 minutes!!). Donabate have a lovely venue in St Patrick’s Parish Hall. I asked Mr Google about the hall and this is what he told me
 
“From the early part of the 18th century, when bishops and regular clergy were banned under penal laws, secular clergy served the parish of Donabate from a mass house. This mass house was replaced in 1804 by a church built on land donated by the Lord Trimleston, a Catholic and member of the Barnewall family of Turvey House. The church subsequently became the Parish Hall, a hub of local community activity where the Library Committee for Donabate was established in 1906. An anti-conscription meeting was held there in 1918 and over the years the hall has hosted dances, concerts, garden produce displays and dog shows. In the 1940s a boxing club trained and held tournaments there under the direction of a Mr Warrington. The hall also provided the initial office for the Donabate and District Credit Union when it opened in 1968."
(Courtesy of the Fingal County Council Website)
 
Helen Boyle and her team have a lovely venue for bridge out in Donabate. They have the main hall itself where we got to set up 6 tables (4 for the Novice League and 2 for the Inter B League for a Donabate/Clontarf match.) The club itself played in a lovely bright room off the main hall. Unfortunately the boiler had not been turned on when we arrived so it was a little bit cold to start with. (Luckily there wasn’t any snow on the ground like in the photo above.) When it did warm up though, we were all taking our clothes off (slight exaggeration!). As is the tradition with the Kirwan League, we got tea and buns at half time - the butterfly buns were magnificent!!
 
Donabate have taken to the Kirwan League with great gusto this year with 3 teams in the B league and one in the Novice. Thank you. We need more clubs like yours in the Dublin North Region.
 
Enough of the “raimeis” and on to the games.
 
This was Donabate’s first entry into the foray in the Novice league, but unfortunately for them, they came up against a very strong Raheny team who were smarting from their defeat to Clontarf in the first round. They came out with all guns blazing and won the game by 19.93 to 0.07 VP’s
 
The other game was between the winners of the two games in the first round - neighbours Clontarf and St Gabriel’s, so something had to give. After Session 1, St Gabriel’s had set up a commanding lead of 35 IMPS to 8. But the butterfly buns worked their magic with Clontarf and the 2nd session was a totally different matter, with Clontarf winning by 33 IMPS to 10. This was not quite enough to reverse the 1st session result with St Gabriel’s coming out on top by 45 IMPS to 41 and a 11.08 to 8.92 VP victory. 
 
Unfortunately for St Gabriel’s this wasn’t enough to keep them on top of the league despite winning their first two matches. That honour goes to Raheny who are marginally ahead of St Gabriel’s. The results of Round 2 were as follows:
Screenshot 2024-01-17 at 15.27.38

The league positions after round 2 are as follows:
 Screenshot 2024-01-17 at 15.28.01

Our next round is on Friday 23rd in St Gabriel’s at 19.00 with Donabate taking on Malahide and the top of the table clash between St Gabriel’s and Raheny.
 
Looking forward to seeing you there.
 
Dan.

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