‘Nev’ Wins Maiden Dreswick Cup
Dreswick Cup Winner 2023 - Neil Withers
Photo: Arnie WithersA healthy entry of 40 players took part in Port St Mary’s Dreswick Cup men’s singles competition played at Port Erin Bowling Club on Thursday afternoon. Luckily the weather was warm and sunny making it a very enjoyable afternoon of bowls.
The Dreswick Cup has been going for over 50 years and has always been played on a Thursday afternoon when traditionally most local shops had half day closing on a Thursday.
A couple of big matches in the second round saw club mates competing with each other, in the top half of the draw South Ramsey’s Glynn Hargraves pushed David Bradford hard eventually losing to 19-21. In the bottom half of the draw Marown’s Colin Kelly also went close before losing to 20-21 against Neil Withers.
At the quarter final stage David Bradford beat teammate James Teare 21-18, Paul Dunn beat clubmate Walter McCarthy 21-11, Alan Moore (South Ramsey) ended home greener Bernie Durcan’s (Port Erin) run winning 21-17 and Neil Withers got the better of Nathan Hamilton (Castletown) 21-16.
Both semi-final matches involved players from South Ramsey and Marown, Bradford and Dunn have had many battles together, Dunn came out on top this time winning seven of the last eight ends to win 21-17.
In the second semi-final Moore and Withers had a good match with the lead constantly changing, Withers finished stronger though and won 21-18.
An all Marown final between team mates Dunn and Withers was a good quality game, Withers started strong building up a 16-7 lead, Dunn came back winning the next five ends closing the gap to 16-14 before Withers took control again taking the next four ends to win 21-14.
The Presentation was made by Port St Mary Club President Margaret Tasker who thanked all the members that helped through the day to run a successful competition. In his speech Withers said it was his first time winning the title having reached the final five times previously.