Adrian Hardiman's claims for the supremacy of UCD's L&H have empirical backing. The Belfield society has produced no fewer than nine winning teams in the Irish Times Debate, if you count two-in-a-row team Patrick Cosgrave and Anthony Clare (1963 and 1964) twice. TCD's Hist is the next most successful team-worker, with eight winning pairs. The L&H's distinguished list of winners also includes Gerry Danaher and Gerry Stembridge, to name only the Gerrys.
Women have only made any consistent impact in the team competition in the last five years. In the individual competition, women have only won twice, and not since Deirdre Murphy in 1976. Near-winners have included Mary Robinson, Mary Harney and Maev-Ann Wren.
There was nothing "near", however, about individual winners Eamonn McCann (1965) of Queen's, Henry Kelly (1968) of the L&H or Sean Moran (1981) of TCD Hist, now our own Gaelic games correspondent. Derek Davis won a team trophy with his Queen's teammate, Brendan Keenan, in 1969.
Conor Gearty, representing UCD's Law Soc, won team trophies with two different teammates in 1978 and 1979. He also crossed the pond to win the Observer Mace twice in a row (after which winners were banned from re-entering).
The society of the 1990s was UCC's Philosoph, with three winning teams and two individuals.
