There were ten semi-finals across five events running from Monday 16th to Friday 20th April followed by the five finals on Saturday 21st April. The events were the Ladies’ League Cup (for teams in Ladies’ Divisions 1 and 2), the Men’s League Cup B (for teams in Divisions 4 to 7), the Men’s League Cup A (for teams in Divisions 1 to 3), and the Men’s and Ladies’ Northumbria Cups (for the top-4 Premier teams in each League).

There were no real surprises in the semi-finals, with all the expected teams progressing to the finals, albeit some by fairly narrow margins!

SEMI-FINAL RESULTS:
Men’s Northumbria Cup:
Newcastle University 1 beat Tynemouth 1 5-0
Westoe 1 beat Northern 1 3-2
Ladies’ Northumbria Cup:
Northern Ladies 1 beat Primrose Ladies 3-2
Northumberland Ladies 1 beat Tynemouth Ladies 1 3-2
Men’s League Cup A:
Chester-le-Street 1 beat Hexham 1 5-0
Tynemouth 2 beat Westoe 2 3-2
Men’s League Cup B:
Primrose 2 beat Chester-le-Street 3 4-1
Westoe 3 beat Ashington 1 3-2
Ladies’ League Cup:
Northumbria University Ladies beat Northumberland Ladies 2 3-2
Tynemouth Ladies 2 beat Eldon Leisure Ladies 5-0

On Saturday, the first match played was the Ladies’ League Cup final between Northumbria University Ladies and Tynemouth Ladies 2. Ellie Watling got the University off to a flying start at 3, but Emily King at 5 and Amy Rowell at 1 turned it round for Tynemouth before Alya Ibrahim at 2 levelled the scores. So it all came down to the final match on court between Megan Kaye and Emma Rowell at 2, which Megan won in a close 3-0 to secure the League and Cup double for Northumbria University.

Next the Men’s League Cups A and B went on court. In a quick start, Westoe 3 got their revenge on Division 4 champions Primrose 2, securing League Cup B by winning the first three matches at 5, 3 and 1 through Ken Landsbury, Stephen Wilkinson and Paul Little. Primrose hit back too late through Jeff Houston at 4 and Tony Hockey at 2 to narrow the gap, but Westoe 3 took the match 3-2 to lift the trophy.

The League Cup A final between Chester-le-Street 1 and Tynemouth 2 was another surprise. After Tom Beresford got Chester-le-Street off to a good start with a 15/14 win in the 5th against Richard Bradley at 3, Tynemouth took charge of the match, Matty Walsh and Paul Millington winning at 5 and 1 respectively, then Liam Dobbin wrapped up the match and the Cup for Tynemouth 2 with a 3-0 win at 4. Steve Fountain won a 5-set tussle with Sam Evans to narrow Tynemouth’s margin of victory to 3-2.

Finally the Ladies’ and Men’s Northumbria Cup finals went on. In the Ladies’ event, Northumberland Ladies 1 won convincingly against Premier Division champions Northern Ladies 1, who were missing key players at the top of their order. Lowri Waugh at 3 and Rebecca Symmons at 4 set Northumberland up for the win, which was clinched by Lizzie Little at 1, then further wins by Maria Bainbridge at 2 and Aanya Hamilton at 5 completed a 5-0 win for Northumberland Ladies 1 to take the Northumbria Cup in emphatic style.

In the Men’s event, Newcastle University 1 were looking to secure the ‘double double’ against Westoe 1, having won back-to-back Premier titles and last year’s Northumbria Cup, however they were missing their veteran number 3 and talisman Bryan Beeson through injury. Oliver Walls gave the University a good start at 5 but Westoe hit back through Michael Burton at 3 to level the match. Chris Wiggins at 1 put the University back in front against a heavy-legged Paul Lord but again Westoe levelled through Richard Elliott at 4, who beat Alex Cahill in a nail-biting 5-setter. All hinged on the number 2 match between Michael Mackay and Chris Boyer, Chris eventually coming out on top 3-1 in front of a raucous crowd to secure the match win 3-2 and the Northumbria Cup for Westoe 1.

FINAL RESULTS:
Men’s Northumbria Cup:
Westoe 1 beat Newcastle University 1 3-2
Ladies’ Northumbria Cup:
Northumberland Ladies 1 beat Northern Ladies 1 5-0
Men’s League Cup A:
Tynemouth 2 beat Chester-le-Street 1 3-2
Men’s League Cup B:
Westoe 3 beat Primrose 2  3-2
Ladies’ League Cup:
Northumbria University Ladies beat Tynemouth Ladies 2  3-2

So a great night for Westoe. The Finals and Presentation Night were well-attended by a variety of players and supporters from all over the county, with the now-customary University ‘barmy army’ meeting their match in the large Westoe travelling support, and the presentations were followed by an excellent buffet. Thanks go to the Northumberland Club for hosting the whole event.