The Dee’s line up showed a few changes from last week with Owen Roberts slotting into the second row and Leo Gray filling one of the back row positions. Jack Chesney and Charlie Wallis, both home for Christmas, started at prop and wing respectively.

Thankfully the rain stayed away for the duration of the game but the moist pitch and the strong breeze made handling difficult for both teams. The start of the game was a scrappy affair with the Dee just edging the possession but unable to create any real scoring opportunities. The breakthrough eventually came after fifteen minutes when Matthew Pentland found touch on the Holywood five-meter line after Holywood were penalised at a ruck.

From the lineout the Dee set up a driving maul and it was Callum Moore who crashed over to register his first try for the Dee. Ten minutes later the Dee doubled their lead when Nathan Boyd forced his way over from a metre out after a fine drive by Owen Roberts. Holywood then lost a man to the bin after a series of penalties.

With five minutes to go to half-time the referee made full use of his cards after a brouhaha in the Holywood half. Both sides saw a red card and a further yellow for the home team meant it was fourteen against 12.

As the second half started the Dee made full use of the numerical advantage. Firstly, Adam Russell showed his pace by running from his own 22 to score under the posts. Then Daniel Onstwedder broke through Holywood’s defensive line and slick handling by Ryan Butler allowed Leo Gray to dive over. Pentland converted both tries to give Dee a 24-0 lead.

Ten minutes later an excellent pass by Callum Moore put Jack Murphy in the clear and he outstripped the chasing defenders to score his first try for the Dee. Pentland was successful with the difficult conversion. Dee’s domination continued in the last quarter and they ran in a further four tries. Russell and Gray both bagged their second tries of the day which Pentland converted. The penultimate try saw Jody Newell score with Jack Murphy the provider on this occasion.

Finally, Pentland made a clean break down field and could have scored himself but selflessly passed to Ryan Butler to allow him to double his career try tally to two. The referee brought the game to a close with the final score 57-0 in the Dee’s favour.

Man of the match this week goes to young Callum Moore who put in another good performance and is gaining in confidence every week. A convincing win for the Dee and another five points collected.

Still a lot of work to do in training before a difficult January ahead. League contenders Strabane come to Donaldson Park on 3rd January and a week later the Dee travel to Virginia for a semi-final clash in the Gordon West Cup.