The game of 25s is played the length and breadth of Ireland in many of its regional formats.
It would be seen mainly as a rural practise played in pubs, community halls, clubs, private
houses or anywhere a group would get together to while away the long dark winters nights. It
was only natural then that because of the rural background of the majority of Confey
members in the early days the custom of playing 25s would be introduced to the club. Many
of the founding members were aficionados of the game of 25 and many nights were passed
playing the game in the Creighton house, the Divilly house, the Sweeney house, the late
Tom O`Reilly house, the late Pat Gleeson house and many many more.

Early organised games , known as progressive 25s, would have been played in the Leixlip
House Hotel, in Newtown House where the Library and Community Centre are now
situated. From there the venue changed to Scoil San Carlo through the cooperation of
Paddy Keegan who was Vice Principal at the time and a keen card player himself. When the
clubhouse opened at the end of 1997 the card players finally had a permanent home for
themselves and have been going strong there ever since.

Every Monday night during the playing seasons (usually September to Christmas, January to
Easter and then into the summer as long as the interest is there) anything up to 14 tables of
six players come from far and near to play cards, enjoy the crack and hope to be winners on
the night. You play with a partner and one will usually be found for you if come alone. With
modern technology like WhatsApp its generally easy enough to find a partner if yours isn't
available on the night.

It costs just 5 euro to play and for this you get to play 20 games. The winners will usually
achieve a score of anything from 9 to 12 games and if things really go well for you and your
partner you might just win the jackpot if you reach the magical figure of 14 games.
Its a game of strategy and good for the brain. Most players are very good at tokens i.e letting
your partner know what kind of hand you have in a non verbal fashion (highly illegal of
course!!!!). Cries of “why did you lead the trump” or You should have hit him” (not literally or
“we were only a trick” might be some of the minor good natured banter heard in the course
of the game. Occasionally unprintable comments might be heard as well.

The idea would be to keep the game alive as long as possible so its important to to know the
score as the game progresses. Someone described it as a poor mans Bridge game but you'd
rarely see anyone thump the table when producing the winning card on the last trick to win
the game. When you win a game you and your partner move to the next table where you will
face two other pairs and a new game starts. If you going well you will be moving regularly
and this will be noticed by the rest of the card players. Likewise if you don't win a game you
stay at the the same table until you eventually manage to win one.....if this takes 10 or more

games you are usually the beneficiary of a great cheer and round of applause...all in good
fun. The 20 games last between 90 minutes and two hours with sandwiches being served by
the bar staff after 10 games or so. The games continue on a league basis with the overall
winners pocketing the big prize at the end of the league.

Men and women ranging in ages from 30 to 95 have been playing in recent times with a 94
year old lady being the overall winner alongside her daughter in a recent league. Players
come from all over Leixlip, Lucan, Dunboyne, Castleknock, Rathfarnham, Blackrock and
many other places to enjoy the game. In the recent league which concluded at Easter a total
of 104 different players had played at some stage....truly a phenomenal figure. At the end of
each league a charity night is held with the proceeds donated to a worthwhile charity.

This card game does not and has not run itself over the years and great credit is due to the
likes of Mick Divilly, Larry Keenahan Timmy Quan who have kept it going and in particular to
Tony Roche and Martin Carley who have done trojan work over many years and hopefully for
many more to bring the Confey Progressive 25 card school to the level its at today.

If you are interested in being part of Confey 25 cards or need to know any more information
about it feel free to contact Tony Roche at 087 311 0437 or Martin Carley at 087 221 8051.