Munster Chess Union
There wasn't really much tension going into the final two rounds of Division 1 this year. Cork A were leading on 10.5 points ahead of Adare and Ennis A both on 9 points. So while Cork A could be caught in theory it would mean losing both of their matches. In fact Cork A won both their matches against Sarsfield and Ennis B to clinch the title comfortably with 12.5 points from 14 matches.
In the relegation race, which involved three teams last year, Tralee were in deep trouble unless they won both their final matches. However they lost to Ennis A and Limerick to be relegated to Division 2. Having had a great season last year in winning promotion Tralee had a difficult time fielding their strongest team this year.
All the drama in Division 1 centered on second place where Adare and Ennis A met in the last round both on 10 match points. Adare had the advantage with 46 game points versus 42.5 for Ennis A. So Ennis A needed a win.
After two early draws on the bottom boards Rory Quinn had a win over Drahoslav Stejskal on board 1 to swing the advantage towards Ennis A. Boards two and three were fought out to the very end. Finally Mike O'Donnell held a draw against Diana Mirza and John Cassidy held a draw against Anthony Fox to make it a 3 - 2 win for Ennis A making them runners up.
A happy Cork team of John Donoghue, Alex Byrne, Keegan O'Mahoney, Henk De Jonge and Stephen Short (Team Captain). Hugh Doyle and Piotr Leichert were also regular team members.