The first Irish Club Championship: An Ulster perspective
In the early 1950s Enda Rohan became Secretary of the Irish Chess Union. His aim was to modernise the administration of the game in Ireland, to establish new domestic competitions and to expose Irish chess to an international dimension. Mark Orr's The Irish Chess Archive has Rohan's own account of those efforts at
http://www.markorr.net/tica/players/rohane/home.htmlAmong Rohan's initiatives was the creation of an Irish Club Championship in 1954. Three new Leagues had been formed - a South Leinster League, an Oriel League (incorporating North Leinster and South Ulster) and a North Ulster League. The winners of the three new Leagues would compete in a knockout competition with the winning clubs from the established club competitions in Belfast (Ulster Trophy), Dublin (Armstrong Cup), Munster and Connacht for the Championship.
The following year Connacht was divided into two Leagues - Midland and Western - to provide a perfect number (for a knockout competition) of eight teams.
The North Ulster League comprised teams from Derry, Omagh, Cookstown and Coleraine, while the Oriel League consisted of two South Ulster clubs (Newry and Carrickmacross) and four from North Leinster (Dundalk, Drogheda, St. Joseph's (Drogheda) and Skerries). The name "Oriel" was chosen because it was the old historical name for the district.
The draw for the quarter-finals of the inaugural championship was:
A
winners of North Ulster -v- BelfastThe semi-finals were to be A -v- B and C -v- D, with the final to be held in the first week of May.
Newry, who had won the Oriel League with 9 wins from their 10 matches, beat the Connacht champions, Galway in Longford on Sunday 4th April 1954
The chess column in the Irish News for the 30th April 1954 carried this report on the match between the two other Ulster contenders:
"The quarter-final game between Derry (winners of the North Ulster League) and Queen's University took place yesterday in the CIYMS Rooms, which resulted in a win for Queen's University. Derry put up a good fight, and some of the games were touch and go. Some of the games were adjourned to enable Derry players to see the Derry -v- Glentoran Cup final, and were finished later in the evening. The winners play Newry in the semi-final."
|
Queen's University |
4.5 - 1.5 |
Derry |
|
R Jones |
1-0 |
N. Gillespie |
|
J. Wrigley |
Draw |
J. Strawbridge |
|
J. Mills |
1-0 |
A. McCafferty |
|
V. Farris |
1-0 |
L. Jackson |
|
F. Paukert |
1-0 |
E. O'Hare |
|
B. Bransden |
0-1 |
A. Halliday |
Remarkably, two of the Derry players are still active in Ulster chess circles today. John Strawbridge, a former President of the Ulster Chess Union, is a member of CIYMS Chess Club and still plays regularly for his club in League matches and in individual tournaments. Eugene O'Hare, playing on a lowly Board 5, later became Ulster champion six times in the 1960s and played in two Olympiads for Ireland. He is still actively involved with the City of Derry Chess Club.
The following week's chess column in the Irish News on the 7th May 1954 gave details of the semi-final match between the two remaining Ulster teams:
"Queen's University travelled to Newry to play them in the semi-final, and a close game it turned out to be.
After tea J. Wrigley was a pawn down against H. McCullough, while G. D. Liversage was a pawn up against Rev. Fr. Lynch. Queen's required one point from these two games. You can imagine the suspense. Wrigley dare not offer a draw in case Liversage lost and vice versa. Eventually both games were drawn which gave Queen's the victory.
|
Newry |
2.5 - 3.5 |
Queen's University |
|
H. Hoey |
1-0 |
R Jones |
|
H. McCullough |
Draw |
J. Wrigley |
|
L. Jellett |
Draw |
V. Farris |
|
Rev. Fr. Lynch |
Draw |
G. D. Liversage |
|
D. O'Callaghan |
0-1 |
F. Paukert |
|
H. O'Neill |
0-1 |
B. Bransden |
In the other semi-final Eoghan Ruadh had won against the Munster champions, Cork CYMS, who had previously beaten South Leinster winners, Wicklow in the quarter-finals.
The final took place at a neutral venue, Dundalk on Saturday 8th May 1954. The teams had two wins each, and two games were adjudicated by the New Zealand master R. G. Wade, and given as a draw in each game. Wade had been giving a simultaneous exhibition in the same building, part of a tour of Ireland after playing in the An Tostal International Masters Tournament, in which he had finished second.
|
Queen's University |
3.0 - 3.0 |
Eoghan Ruadh |
|
J. Mills |
0-1 |
T. Kelly |
|
R Jones |
0-1 |
P. J. Murphy |
|
J. Wrigley |
Draw |
W. Stanton |
|
V. Farris |
1-0 |
J. Broughal |
|
G. D. Liversage |
1-0 |
D. de Loughrey |
|
F. Paukert |
Draw |
L. Louth |
The replay on the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd May brought a conclusion to the first Irish Club Championship. The chess column in the Irish News for the 28th May 1954 carried this report:
"The first winner of the National Club Championship was the Dublin Eoghan Ruadh. Their opponents were Queen's University.
The final took place in the Gaelic Hall, Dundalk. The first match ended in a draw, three each, so it was arranged for the replay to also take place in Dundalk.
To enable their strongest team to take part, three games were played on Saturday and the other three on Sunday.
Queen's University played their same team but Eoghan Ruadh switched their top two boards, and also played T. O'Neill instead of J. Broughal.
On Saturday the score was 1.5 each, but Sunday was a blank day for Queen's who lost three games, leaving the Dublin club winners with 4.5 to 1.5
T. Kelly, fresh from the Masters tourney [and later that year to win the Irish Championship in Belfast - Ed.] won against R. Jones at board 2. J. W. A. Mills drew with P. J. Murphy. T. O'Neill who did not play in the first match had a good win over V. Farris. F. Paukert was the only Queen's winner.
After a draw in the first match, better things were expected at Queen's, but I surmise it is the hard work just before the approaching exams taking a little edge off their chess, or is it that they found the Dublin team just a little stronger.
|
Queen's University |
1.5 - 4.5 |
Eoghan Ruadh |
|
|
J. Mills |
Draw |
P. J. Murphy |
Saturday |
|
R Jones |
0-1 |
T. Kelly |
Sunday |
|
J. Wrigley |
0-1 |
W. Stanton |
Sunday |
|
V. Farris |
0-1 |
T. O'Neill |
Sunday |
|
G. D. Liversage |
0-1 |
D. de Loughrey |
Saturday |
|
F. Paukert |
1-0 |
L. Louth |
Saturday |