Towns Cup disappointment for 1st XV

Donaghadee 1st XV travelled to the Palace Grounds for their Towns Cup first round tie against City of Armagh II on Saturday more in hope than in expectation. Their opponents were beaten finalists in the most recently contested Towns & Junior Cup Finals and, once again, the injury hoodoo which has drastically affected the Dee’s season reared it’s ugly head. Included in those missing from the Lisburn game last week were the highly influential Ally Lockhart together with Callum Montgomery, Owen Roberts & Chris McGivern. In addition, Will Hopes & Ben Beattie had returned to University. On the plus side Matthew Mingout made a very welcome return to the side after a long period of absence due to injury. The Armagh side on the other hand, despite their 1st XV playing away to Old Wesley in the AIL, were able to field a number of senior squad players returning from injury or holiday unavailability.

The home side started strongly as expected and sustained pressure in the first five minutes saw them cross the Dee line to take a 5-0 lead. Donaghadee now had their best spell of the game and for the next twenty five minutes exerted a variety of attacking forays led by the impressive Robbie Grant at openside ably supported by Ray Dobson, Sam Ingham & Paul Hamilton up front and by Paul Johnston, skipper Mark Cooper and Mingout in the backline. Try as they may though the Dee found their opponents defence to be impregnable and successive drives at the Armagh line were denied. After half an hour Armagh broke down the pitch and two minutes later were 12-0 in the lead after the backs and forwards combined impressively to cross the Dee line. Five minutes later the dose was repeated when some lax Dee tackling allowed Armagh to score. The Dee now once again pressed their opponents but were then disappointed to lose Hamilton to a yellow card for not rolling away. Momentum was lost and Armagh took advantage in the sixth minute of injury time to cross for a converted try to leave the half time score 24-0 in their favour.

From the restart Donaghadee once again tried to bring themselves back into the game led by the ever present Grant & Dobson supported by Andy McCracken, Dylan Robinson & Davy Skipp but, as had been the case throughout the match, a dysfunctional lineout ceded possession to Armagh at crucial times. From one of these turnovers Armagh constructed another fine attack and increased their lead to 31-0 with a converted try. With fifty minutes played scrum-half Johnston dislocated his shoulder in the act of tackling and was replaced by back rower James Small from the bench with Mingout moving to No. 9. Under the cosh at this point the Dee men defended valiantly with Alexander, Robbie Ingham, Garry Smith & Andrew Wright particularly prominent. Sady though an instant of loss of concentration allowed Armagh through for another converted try and the Dee found themselves 38-0 with three quarters of the game played. Despite the scoreline the Dee continued to attack their opponents whenever opportunity arose but then were further disadvantaged when Cooper was yellow carded for what the referee saw as a deliberate knock-on even though the Captain appeared to offer two hands to the ball. Once again the Dee had to reorganise with Chris Connolly moving from the centre to No. 10. Although spirited in defence the disparity in numbers however eventually took it’s toll and the home side ran in two further tries to leave the final score 50-0 to the Armagh men.

Given the efforts of the depleted Dee side the final scoreline was scant reward from a game where they stood toe to toe with their opponents for long periods of the match. Clearly though Armagh were much the better side on the day and we wish them well in the rest of the competition. Donaghadee will have learned from the experience but it is important to note, in season unprecedented in terms of injury, just under fifty players have represented the 1st XV this term – a statistic which does absolutely nothing for preparation and consistency. Man of the Match threw up a few contenders – Dylan Robinson continues to impress each time he takes the field, Matthew Mingout had an impressive return, Garry Smith for a belligerent performance but the award this week is shared between Robbie Grant and Adam Alexander for their monumental defensive & ball-carrying efforts.
Next week the 1st XV travel to The Glynn to play Larne in Kukri Championship 2.