This year’s Battle of the Books has been won by the Meath Writers Circle, captained by Tommy Murray, who defeated the Boyne Writers Group, captained by Michael Farry, in this satirical writing contest.

Sponsored by the Trim Swift Festival, the contest took place in the Trim Castle Hotel on the final day of the festival. It saw the Meath Writers take the Noel Dempsey Perpetual Satirical Writing Trophy from the holders, the Boyne Writers, who won the inaugural event last year.

The contest was close. Last year’s margin was 2 points (94-92); this year’s was 3 points (92.5-89.5).

After the first of the four rounds of readings by the contestants, the Boyne Writers (through James Linnane, Ballivor) were ahead by 22-20, but this was because Mark Doyle of the Meath Writers incurred 2 penalty points for over-running the strict 5-minute time limit. By the end of the second round, Jimmy Peppard, Trim, with 22.5 points had hauled back the Boyne Writers whose Caroline Finn, Ballinabrackey, scored 22 points. The Boyne Writers’ margin at that stage was a mere half point.

In the third round, Frank Murphy, Dunsany, for the Meath Writers scored 25 points against the 19.5 of Barbara Flood, Boardsmill, a last-minute substitution on the Boyne Writers’ team when their scheduled team member dropped out. This put the Meath Writers ahead by 4 points, at 67.5 to 63.5.

It was now down to the two team captains. When Tommy Murray of the Meath Writers scored 25, Michael Farry needed to score two 10s and a 9 to draw level. He managed two 9s and an 8 for a total of 26, the highest score of the day, but it was not enough and the Meath Writers were declared the winners.

The following are the subjects of the pieces read by the teams: Meath Writers Circle – Mark Doyle, prose, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury; Jimmy Peppard, poem, The Weatherman; Frank Murphy, poem, The Boyne Drive; Tommy Murray, poem, On being politically correct. Boyne Writers Group – James Linnane, prose, Comedy in Kildare Street; Caroline Finn, poetry, An Ode to the First Decade of the New Millennium; Barbara Flood, prose, Another Swift Summer; Michael Farry, poem, Toilet Trained.

The judges were Dr James Ward, University of Ulster, Coleraine, who is academic adviser to the Trim Swift Festival; Paul Murphy, Navan, a journalist with the Meath Chronicle and a former Editor of the Drogheda Independent; and Plunkett Govern, Moylagh, Oldcastle, a member of Moylagh Drama Group. Scorekeeper was John Foley and timekeeper was Ronan McKenna, both members of the Trim Swift Festival Committee.