O’Hanlon report

Report from Peter Bishop, Team Captain for the Rathmines O’Hanlon Team.

A weaker and lucky Rathmines drew with the Curragh on Saturday 20th October in round 2 of the O’Hanlon Cup.  The Curragh were unluckily forced to concede a board due to a family bereavement.  Rathmine’s lower boards of Johanne Lowry OReilly, Shane Hall and Marion O’Raw all went down to stronger opposition.  James Osborne, subbing on board 1, outmanovered slightly weaker opposition to win.  Person of the Match goes to Andrew McGrath playing white (unexpectedly) on board 2.  Despite losing a rook for a knight early on, he managed to hold on and win a rook for a knight.  He then proceeded to force his opponent to swop pieces, until each side had only a king and six pawns.  His opponent should have offered a draw, which would have been good for Andrew, being 350 points lower in grading.  Andrew kept his cool and won out in the game. 

A very good result for Rathmines and particularly for Andrew. All of the team send our condolences to the Curragh team member affected by the bereavement.