The Dee welcomed Newry to Donaldson Park on Saturday for a league encounter. With Matthew Stockton, Matthew Pentland and Aaron McKee joining a worryingly long injury list the Dee backline had a very different look about it. Robbie Ingham, on his 150th appearance, captained the side from scrum-half. Chris Connelly started in the centre with Carter Long on the wing. It was a welcome return for Matthew Mingout, who started on the bench alongside debutant Ollie McKee.

The Dee got off to a great start when Jody Newell broke through Newry’s defence to score after only a couple of minutes played. Adam McGrath converted to give the Dee a 7-0 lead. Newry tested the Dee defence for the next ten minutes but it stood firm and nullified any danger. Dee then doubled their lead when Ray Dobson sent Sam Moore through a gap to score a converted try.

Newry enjoyed most of the possession for the next ten minutes and were rewarded for their efforts when one of their forwards crashed over to cut the deficit. Dee responded well and on the half-hour mark a clever kick through by McGrath was pounced on by Danny McBride who touched down in the corner.

Five minutes later Dee secured the bonus point with probably the best try of the day. Winning a scrum against the head the ball was fed out to Robbie Ingham who made good ground before executing a one-two with Sam Moore and running in to score in the corner.
Just before the break a Dee player was shown a yellow card and Newry took advantage of the extra man by scoring their second try to make the half-time score 24-14 to the Dee. Seven minutes into the second half Dee extended their lead when Ollie McKee scored on his debut from an excellent driving maul.

Dee were now dominating both possession and territory and Sam Moore notched up another try after McGrath had found an impressive 50.22. At this point the floodgates opened and the Dee showed good offloading skills as Jody Newell, Nathan Boyd and Daniel Ontswedder crossed the whitewash to increase the Dee’s lead.

Another smart kick from Mingout saw Robbie Ingham collect the bouncing ball to score his second of the afternoon and in the last play of the game McBride intercepted a pass in his own 22 and ran the length of the pitch to touchdown under the post to leave the final score 69-14 to the Dee.

The man of the match this week goes to Chris Hamilton who rolled back the years to put in another excellent performance in the back row. The Dee have a week off before travelling to Civil Service on the 31st October.