Irish Poker Championship crown makes a great start to the year

From the CAP News page:

January 6, 2009 (InfoPowa News) -- Rory Rees Brennan survived an entry field of 255 players, many of them top names in the game, over the weekend to carry off the €160,000 main prize in the first of this year's major live poker tournaments, the Party Poker Irish Poker Championship.

Brennan saw off heads up opponent Chris Dowling to take the title after a two-and-a-half-hour finale, leaving him with a €90,000 second placing.

Held at the Radisson in Galway, the €3,000 buy-in event attracted players of the caliber of Mike Sexton, Kenna James, Marty Smyth, and last year's champ Jude Ainsworth -- all vying for a slice of the €464,000 prize pool.

Brennan survived a final table headed by Ben Vinson with the chip lead that included Peter Murphy, Derek Murray, David Curtis, Krzysztof Gwvszko, Rory Liffey, David Poole, and Chris Dowling.