Lasting from October 2018 to April 2019, the fifth season of the Dublin Quiz League saw the league’s biggest expansion yet – 5 new teams, bringing the total participants to 21 and necessitating the creation of a third division.
The season had been due to start in September, but was delayed for a month due to the sad and untimely passing of our friend and fellow quizzer John O’Sullivan in early September 2018. John had been an integral part of the League since the beginning: without his efforts the DQL wouldn’t be where it is now. In John’s memory, the cup awarded to the Division 1 champions is henceforth known as the John O’Sullivan Memorial Trophy.
Speaking of Division 1 champions, Obi Won This Round held off all comers this season to take their third title, narrowly pipping Team Jules into second place when the latter suffered a defeat in their penultimate match.
Meanwhile, in Division 2, The Kew Tours, including John O’Sullivan’s son Colm, marked their maiden season by convincingly winning the Div 2 title.
An even more dramatic debut of sorts happened in Division 3, where The Lawless Murphys made one or two personnel changes and renamed themselves to The Quizgeralds, a rebranding which was to prove highly effective as they powered to the Division 3 title, in the process becoming the first-ever DQL team to remain unbeaten for an entire season.
Yet again the venues for the League had to change: The Long Stone pub, which had been our venue for two-and-a-half seasons, closed its doors for good in December 2018 after 264 years in business, ahead of its planned demolition to make way for a new office block. As a result, halfway through the season, we had to find a new venue – two new venues in fact, since we prefer to use two neighbouring pubs for ease of logistics and there was nowhere else sufficiently near to Ruin Bar that met our needs. We ended up moving to Sam’s Bar and Café en Seine, 3 doors away from each other on Dawson Street, for the remainder of the season.
Winning teams
- Division 1 winners: Obi Won This Round (€300 prize)
- Division 1 runners-up: Team Jules (€150)
- Division 2 winners: The Kew Tours (€200)
- Division 2 runners-up: The Floaters (€120)
- Division 3 winners: The Quizgeralds (€150)
- Division 3 runners-up: The Quizzards of Odd (€100)
Winners’ gallery
2019 Division 1 champions Obi Won This Round 
2019 Division 1 runners-up Team Jules 
2019 Division 2 champions The Kew Tours 
2019 Division 2 runners-up The Floaters 
2019 Division 3 champions The Quizgeralds 
2019 Division 3 runners-up The Quizzards of Odd
Final league tables
| Division 1 | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Difference | Bonus | Points | |
| Division 1 | P | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | B | Pts | |
| 1 | Obi Won This Round | 12 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 565 | 502 | +63 | 2 | 38 |
| 2 | Team Jules | 12 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 573 | 535 | +38 | 4 | 36 |
| 3 | My Mates in the Corner | 12 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 550 | 515 | +35 | 6 | 34 |
| 4 | Team Irish Life | 12 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 539 | 497 | +42 | 4 | 32 |
| 5 | The Rollin' Estonians | 12 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 536 | 534 | +2 | 5 | 29 |
| 6 | The Unusual Suspects | 12 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 469 | 559 | -90 | 4 | 16 |
| 7 | The Duodenojejunal Flexures | 12 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 441 | 531 | -90 | 6 | 14 |
| Division 2 | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Difference | Bonus | Points | |
| Division 2 | P | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | B | Pts | |
| 1 | The Kew Tours | 12 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 547 | 426 | +121 | 1 | 41 |
| 2 | The Floaters | 12 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 534 | 459 | +75 | 4 | 36 |
| 3 | The Hitsquad Oracles | 12 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 452 | 470 | -18 | 3 | 31 |
| 4 | The Magnificent Seven | 12 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 498 | 482 | +16 | 4 | 28 |
| 5 | E = MC Hammer | 12 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 500 | 489 | +11 | 3 | 27 |
| 6 | The Fast and the Spurious | 12 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 409 | 520 | -111 | 1 | 13 |
| 7 | The Aulfellas | 12 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 402 | 496 | -94 | 5 | 13 |
| Division 3 | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Difference | Bonus | Points | |
| Division 3 | P | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | B | Pts | |
| 1 | The Quizgeralds | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 567 | 391 | +176 | 1 | 49 |
| 2 | The Quizzards of Odd | 12 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 510 | 409 | +101 | 2 | 42 |
| 3 | The Underdogs | 12 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 487 | 432 | +55 | 4 | 28 |
| 4 | Universally Challenged | 12 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 472 | 428 | +44 | 3 | 27 |
| 5 | The Four Horsemen | 12 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 386 | 463 | -77 | 3 | 19 |
| 6 | 3 Men and a Baby | 12 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 388 | 473 | -85 | 1 | 17 |
| 7 | Compu Global Hyper Meganets | 12 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 296 | 510 | -214 | 2 | 2 |
- Points are awarded as follows: 4 points awarded for a win, 2 for a draw, 0 for a loss.
- Bonus points are awarded as follows:
- Losing bonus: 1 league point awarded to any team who loses a close match (by 7 points or less)
- Individual bonus: 1 league point awarded to any team who has a “perfect” individual round during a match (4 out of 4 correct with no conferring)
- If two or more teams are level on points, then the team with the most points “For” are ranked ahead. If that’s also equal, then we use the Points Difference (points For minus points Against).
- Teams in the prize money and/or promotion slots are shown in green. Teams in the relegation zone are shown in red.