Their prospects were not helped by the unfortunate early morning withdrawal of vice-captain Daniel Onstwedder. However, this enabled Nathan Boyd to make his first start of the season in the second row. A change in the backline saw Matthew Mingout start on the right wing.

The hosts kicked off into the autumnal sunshine and immediately put pressure on the Dee’s defence. Some strong tackling from the Dee kept their line in tact and eventually they enjoyed some possession of their own. In the tenth minute a strong passage of play saw the Dee forwards crash over the line but the referee judged the ball to be held up. Four minutes later the Dee did manage a score when Matthew Stockton drove over to score out wide. The conversion was missed to leave the score 5-0 to the Dee.

The rest of the half proved to be a stalemate with both teams creating chances to score and if it had not been for a couple of mistakes the Dee would have stretched their first half lead.

Both teams were reduced to fourteen men when the referee sent a player from each side to the sin bin for a couple of indiscretions. The second half could not have started better for the Dee. Adam Russell gathered the kickoff and made good ground down the wing. After the ball was recycled a couple of times some good offloads put Ryan Butler free to run in to score one of his rare tries. Cohen Hurley was successful with the conversion to give the Dee a twelve-point lead.

Five minutes later the hosts came roaring back and despite some valiant Dee defence on their own line a Monaghan forward eventually forced his way over for a converted try.

Unfortunately, Dee captain Stockton had to leave the field at this point, forcing the Dee to reshuffle their backline. As the third quarter drew to a close the Dee scored a third try. Scrum half Olly Hamilton darted through a gap in Monaghan’s defence and then passed to Hurley who beat the last defender to score in the corner. Hurley hit the post with the difficult touchline conversion but the Dee now led 17-7.

The last quarter of the game belonged to the home team, collectively showing a greater will to win than the Dee. Two tries in quick succession levelled the score and with ten minutes to go all the momentum was with Monaghan.

Although Dee’s scrum was excellent throughout the game the lineout was not functioning and therefore limited the attacking possibilities and giving Monaghan too much possession.

With eight minutes to go Monaghan went ahead for the first time when they managed to score in the corner to make it 22-17.

As the clock ticked on Dee tried hard to level the scores but with a couple of minutes to go were penalised for an infringement at a ruck. Monaghan decided to kick the penalty and the successful attempt pushed the score to 25-17, to deny the Dee a losing bonus point.

This was a disappointing result for the Dee, relinquishing a ten-point lead with twenty minutes to go. If they are to improve their league position they will have to improve their set piece and game management.

Man of the match this week was Ryan Butler who capped a good performance with a fine try. Next week Dee welcome Newry to Donaldson Park, k.o. 2.30pm.

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