On Saturday 28th September 2019, 28 quizzers from around Ireland and beyond gathered for the 7th annual Irish Open Quiz. This took place in the now-familiar surroundings of the Bad Mint Venue bar and function room, upstairs in the Terenure Badminton Centre in south Dublin.
The participants in Dublin were also virtually joined by no less than 24 satellite venues around the world, sitting the quiz at (roughly) the same time. Countries hosting satellite venues included Portugal, Scotland, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Romania, Ukraine, UAE, Oman, India and Malaysia.
For the third year in succession, the Irish Open quiz itself was written by the IQO chairman, John Nolan. And as usual, we also held a fun team quiz afterwards, which this year was kindly set by the IQO’s Gary Stephens.
Other than the enjoyable nature of the quizzes themselves, the attendees were also treated to the presence of none other than Pat Gibson, who of course needs no introduction as a former winner of both Mastermind and Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, as well as a panellist on BBC’s Eggheads. Pat was making his first appearance at an Irish Open, and we hope to see him again at some point in the future.
Competition for the top spot was fierce between Pat Gibson and the two top Irish quizzers in attendance (Lorcan Duff and Mark Henry), and sure enough it was Pat who prevailed – but only just, coming out on top with a cracking score of 173 out of 240, a mere three points ahead of Mark Henry with 170, and Lorcan Duff taking the bronze with 155.
Results
Overall top 10
| Name | Art & Culture | Civilisation | Entertainment | Lifestyle | Physical World | Sport & Games | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pat Gibson | 33 | 31 | 24 | 34 | 30 | 21 | 173 |
| 2 | Mark Henry | 31 | 27 | 21 | 29 | 29 | 33 | 170 |
| 3 | Lorcan Duff | 26 | 28 | 24 | 26 | 25 | 26 | 155 |
| 4 | David Lea | 16 | 26 | 21 | 34 | 24 | 26 | 147 |
| 5 | Dave McBryan | 17 | 22 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 22 | 136 |
| 6 | Kevin Jones | 22 | 22 | 12 | 27 | 23 | 23 | 129 |
| 7 | Patrick Carthy | 16 | 20 | 14 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 122 |
| 8 | Dan O’Malley | 7 | 18 | 29 | 28 | 21 | 15 | 118 |
| 9 | John Hayes | 21 | 14 | 8 | 17 | 24 | 21 | 105 |
| 10 | Gary Stephens | 13 | 17 | 16 | 26 | 16 | 13 | 101 |
Top scores in each category
Art & Culture
- Pat Gibson 33
- Mark Henry 31
- Lorcan Duff 26
- Daniel Watts 25
- Kevin Jones 22
Civilisation
- Pat Gibson 31
- Lorcan Duff 28
- Mark Henry 27
- David Lea 26
- Dave McBryan / Kevin Jones / Daniel Watts 22
Entertainment
- Dan O’Malley 29
- Pat Gibson / Lorcan Duff / Dave McBryan 24
- Mark Henry / David Lea 21
Lifestyle
- Pat Gibson / David Lea 34
- Mark Henry 29
- Dan O’Malley 28
- Kevin Jones 27
Physical World
- Pat Gibson 30
- Mark Henry 29
- Dave McBryan 26
- Lorcan Duff 25
- David Lea / Patrick Carthy / John Hayes 24
Sport & Games
- Mark Henry 33
- Lorcan Duff / David Lea 26
- Patrick Carthy / Callum McClements 24
Questions & answers
The questions and answers are freely available for you to download below as PDF documents:
Photo gallery
Irish Open champion 2019 Pat Gibson receives his award from IQO chairman John Nolan 
Irish Open 2019 runner-up Mark Henry receives his award from IQO chairman John Nolan 
Irish Open 2019 3rd place Lorcan Duff receives his award from IQO chairman John Nolan 
Fun quiz winners Anthony Strogen, Dave McBryan and Eva Barrett receive their prize from quizmaster Gary Stephens 
Quizmaster Gary Stephens presents the fun quiz runners-up prize to David Lea, Michael Cullen and Jules Carney 
Fun quiz joint 3rd place team Dan O’Malley, John Nolan and Joseph O’Donoghue receive their prize from quizmaster Gary Stephens 
Fun quiz joint 3rd place team Pat Gibson, Callum McClements and Fanchea Gibson receive their prize from quizmaster Gary Stephens