In the main Wicklow Open event, there were 62 competitors. After a long day of play starting at 10.30, we reached the semi-finals around 6.00pm and it came down to Graham Dungan v Jamie Gallagher and Neil Dobbs v Sean Casey.

Neil and Graham progressed to play an extremely tight final where Neil kept nudging ahead only for Graham to pull it back. In the end Neil prevailed - a successful end to a remarkable day for him after an allergic reaction to a wasp sting in Round 2 that threatened to derail his entire day.

Outgoing champion, Daniel Lynch, was on hand to present the trophy and prizes and the famous Shark Trophy.

The Wicklow Open 2026 13th September N11 Ashford House

In the Paul Davitt Trophy competition (formerly the Consolation event), 48 players took part and the semifinals were contested between Dave Sheehy and Wicklow’s own Cris Dodea and Rich Tegna and Evren Unal.

Rich and Dave reached the final with Rich coming out on top. After all the extraordinary work has done to raise the standard of Irish backgammon through the ten division Irish League, it was amazing to be able to welcome him to Wicklow and he was a hugely popular winner.

The final event of the weekend, the “Wicklow Dice” led to the closest finish of all which sums up the vagaries of backgammon.

In a match to 5 points tied at 4-4. Jackie Murphy has one checker left and it’s on her 1pt. Alex Fahey has two checkers on his 4pt and one on his 5pt. He needs high doublets to steal the match. He rolls, one dice lands quickly on a 4, the other keeps spinning for what seems like an eternity. Before landing on the 4 he needed to win him the event!

Report and Photos from Wicklow Backgammon Facebook page., run by TD Alan Cox

It was brilliant to be able to welcome Ireland’s first ever grandmaster, Sean Casey, to the Wicklow Open on Saturday and we had a little presentation for him to mark this terrific achievement.

However, as Sean himself would undoubtedly acknowledge, it was even better to welcome some new players for whom this was their first ever tournament. The Irish Backgammon community is extremely welcoming and we hope they’ll be back for more!

Sean is pictured here with the man who runs the Irish Open and does so much to drive backgammon in Ireland, Jamie Degabriele.

One of the favourite traditions of the Wicklow Open is that we award €50 to the person who loses to the eventual winner in the first round. Often this leads to intense support in the final and in the past there have even been hedging deals done where the losers to the two finalists have split the booty. This year, however, Vic Sprake (pictured) was on the way home to Cork before he discovered that Neil had won him this nice little bonus!

Hugo Ville had a good weekend at the Wicklow Open. He was the big winner in the Friday Night Chouette and followed this up by winning €100 for being the last name out of the hat in the draw for the main event on Saturday morning. Easy money!

We said we’d award €50 to whoever could beat the double defending champion, Daniel Lynch, and Wicklow’s own Dean Copeland promptly did that in Round One. He’s pictured here being awarded his prize by a very sporting Daniel.