Entries are now open for the 75th consecutive staging of William Dwyer inter-society competition.  Two qualifiers will take place in June with Cork Golf Club hosting the final in early July.  Any society can enter and the format is foursomes with teams of eight taking part.  Four teams will qualify from each day in Mahon.

Qualifiers:
Wednesday 7th June at Mahon Golf Club
Tuesday 13th June at Mahon Golf Club

Anyone interested in playing in the event should contact Finbarr O’Callaghan (finbarrocallaghan@eircom.net) and full rules and details are available from Finbarr who has managed the competition for the last number of years.

The William Dwyer Trophy is a living history of commercial Cork.  The trophy boasts 73 separate silver plates detailing the winning team and players from every year since 1943.  Originally there were eight team members (4 foursomes pairs) but this was later increased to ten.  Around six years ago the number was again reduced to the original eight, reflecting the smaller number of golfers playing with societies.  In all there are around 700 names on the trophy.  Indeed the trophy is well over a metre tall, and has several wooden bases added over the years to accommodate the names.

The Munster & Leinster Bank were the original winners back in 1943 and won the competition a record five times.  Cork University also won the competition on five occasions, between 1945 and 1961.  Although the Munster & Leinster is now known as AIB Bank, some of the winners names are consigned to the history books; the names Dunlop, Verolme, Ford and Byrne Butchers all feature on the trophy.  More recently the ESB (Marina & Wilton) have featured as winners on a few occasions, as have Midleton CBS, Wilton Traders and GSK.  In all there have been 45 different winners over the past 74 years.  Now there are 11 separate silver rings on the base of the trophy, listing all of the winning teams and golfers.The trophy itself was made by a well renouned silversmith M Roche who traded from Patrick Street at the time.  Roche was a popular silversmith who had a great reputation for sporting medals and trophies.  He registered M.R as his hallmark with the Dublin assay office and this along with Roche Cork is inscribed on the trophy.

The trophy was donated by William Dwyer of the famous Sunbeam textile business based in Blackpool.  The Dwyer’s are still very involved in several different areas of Cork business and there is still a strong link to textiles. Two of William Dwyer’s great-grandsons Alan and Peter run the very successful golf clothing business, Eurostyle Group which is still based in Blackpool.  Unfortunately neither the Sunbeam or Eurostyle names feature on the trophy but the associated Woollen Traders did win in 1962.  More recently names like GSK, Eli Lilly, SIFCO and DePuy have appeared on the trophy, signalling the emergence of new industries in the Cork area.