The Northumberland Club played host to the Cup Finals and End-of-Season League Presentations on Saturday 18th May.

The action started with the Ladies' League Cup final (for Ladies teams outside the top 4) between Tynemouth Ladies 1 and Northern Ladies 2. There were some close games, particularly at 2nd string, but in the end Tynemouth proved too strong and took the Cup without dropping a game against a Northern side who were missing many regular players.

In the League Cup B final (for Div 4 and 5 teams) between the top two Division 5 teams Newcastle University 4 and Benwell Hill 2, the University were never in trouble against a depleted Benwell Hill side missing several key players and without a #5, and ran out 5-0 winners (all 3-0 matches) to add the Cup to their Division 5 title and complete a noteworthy 'double'.

The League Cup A final (for Div 1-3 teams) saw favourites and Division 1 champions Northumberland 3 take on cupholders Northern 2, who narrowly missed out on promotion. Northern confounded the pundits by pulling off a remarkable victory over the favourites. After they raced into a 2-0 lead following wins by #3 Ben Tudor and #5 Dylan Newton in tight matches against Ryan Doran and Martin Jolley respectively, Northumberland's #4 Stephen Harris pulled it back to 2-1 with a 3-0 win over Neil Mason. Then in an epic encounter, Northern's #1 Matthew Stout turned round a 0-2, 9-14 deficit against Harry Hennessey to win both the 3rd and 4th games 15-14 and wrapped up the 5th to secure the Cup for Northern! The final match on court was a 'dead rubber' in which legendary Northumberland #2 Bryan Beeson had to retire injured after the first game against Craig Dowie, to give Northern a 4-1 win overall and retain the Cup.

The afternoon was rounded off with the Men's and Ladies' Northumbria Cup Finals (for the top 4 teams in their respective Leagues).

The Ladies' Northumbria Cup final pitted the top two Newcastle University Ladies teams, 1A and 1B, against each other. Uni Ladies 1A proved too strong for their 1B counterparts, who were weakened by the loss of all but one of their regular players. There were straightforward 3-0 wins for all the 1A players, who finished the season achieving the double of the Division 1 title and the Northumbria Cup for the second consecutive year!

In the Men's Northumbria Cup final, Northumberland 1, facing a weakened Northern 1 team, had the match wrapped up at 3, 4 and 5 (all 3-0) before Northern got started, with wins for Alex Cahill over Dave Jackson, Chris Garner over Craig Dowie and Jamie Matthews over tiring Ben Tudor (who had played, and won, a 5-setter earlier). Northern #1 Andrew Shipley took an impressive 2-0 lead over Chris Wiggins in a tight game before Chris staged an even more impressive comeback to take the match 3-2, then the #2s Dave Barnett and Alex Robertson played out an equally tense finale, with Northumberland captain Dave taking a 2-0 lead, then Alex levelling at 2-2 before Dave regrouped to run away with the 5th and complete a brilliant Premier League and Northumbria Cup double for Northumberland!

There was a great atmosphere for these finals, with free entry throughout and also to the annual League Presentations which took place at the conclusion of the matches. Certificates were presented to all divisional winners and runners-up and 'players of the division', and trophies and medals to all cup winners and runners-up. There was an opportunity to look back on the 2023/24 season and forward to the 2024 Summer League.

This rounded off a fortnight of cup squash at the Northumberland Club, who also staged the Cup semi-finals.

Thanks go to Ryan Doran for presenting the trophies, medals and certificates, and to the Northumberland Club for hosting us once again.