Dee welcomed Strabane to Donaldson Park on Saturday for a rearranged League fixture. The Dee’s line up was practically unchanged from their last match except for a last-minute change, due to illness, that caused a few positional changes in the backline which saw Jack Murphy slotting in at fullback.

The bitterly cold conditions, due to a biting wind from the North, made it difficult for both teams, although it did stay dry throughout the game. It was the visitors who started brightly and registered their first score when their No8, one of their significant South African contingent, broke away from a ruck and ran in to touch down.

The conversion was successful to give Strabane a 7-0 lead. Only six minutes later Strabane doubled their lead when their centre evaded a couple of tackles and dived over to score a converted score. At this point the floodgates could have opened but to their credit the Dee put their heads down and worked hard in defence and created a few attacking opportunities themselves.

Outhalf Jody Newell made good use of the wind and pinned Strabane back into their own half with some probing kicks. However, the Dee were finding it difficult to win their own lineout ball so let Strabane off the hook several times.

On the half hour mark things got more difficult for the Dee when one of their forwards was given a yellow card for collapsing a maul. For the next ten minutes Strabane dominated possession and territory and in the final play of the half managed to break the Dee’s line to score in the corner to leave the halftime score 19-0 in their favour.

The Dee enjoyed their best period of the game in the third quarter and spent a considerable time in the Strabane half. Although struggling with their lineout the Dee were beginning to dominate in the scrums and a Strabane forward was sent to the bin after Strabane conceded a plethora of penalties. However, the Dee were not able to capitalise on the numerical advantage as Strabane’s well drilled defence kept the Dee at bay.

Just as it looked like the half would finish scoreless it was the visitors who managed a final try to give them the bonus point when their South African No 8 scampered into the corner for an unconverted try. A few minutes later the referee blew for full time with the final score 24-0 to Strabane.

There is no doubt that come the end of the season Strabane will be there pushing for promotion to Championship 2. On reflection there was not a huge gap between the two teams and the Dee know the areas they will have to work on to close those gaps so they can compete for promotion in future seasons. There was certainly no lack of effort from all those that took to the field on Saturday and the man of the match was young Leo Gray who tackled his heart out all afternoon.

The Dee make the long journey to Virginia next Saturday for a semi-final clash in the Gordon West cup, k.o. 2.30pm.