On another bitterly cold afternoon Donaghadee played their penultimate league game in Kukri Championship 3 against a much changed BHSFP side at Greenisland. Being the their second game within 72 hours the Dee rested a couple of players who had niggling injuries which gave a few other the opportunity to stake a place in the squad for the Gordon West Cup Final at Kingspan next Saturday.

The Dee started at a frenetic pace and after a succession of quick penalties scrum-half Paul Johnston went over in only the 3rd minute allowing Danny McBride to covert from the touchline. From the resultant restart the Dee pack powered up the field once more and successive interplays involving right-winger Chris McGivern and his pack brought their reward when Connor O’Byrne broke blind and fed second row partner Kyle Morrow who powered in from all of 30 metres, McBride again adding the extras from a difficult touchline kick.

At 14-0 the Dee expected to kick-on and look for two further tries to bring the all-important bonus point. However that was not to be as High School entered their most rewarding patch of the game putting the away side under pressure for much of the rest of the first period. Once again however, as has been the case all season, the Dee defence stood firm in the face of a plethora power plays from the resurgent BHSFP side with Connor McKee, skipper Matthew Stockton and Chris Hamilton particularly prominent. Eventually, on 40 minutes, the Dee made their way back up the paddock and after a powerful break by blindside Nick Mawhinney knocked the opposition back on their heels he passed to the supporting Max Montgomery who carried a couple of players over the line with him in scoring the Dee’s third try – again converted from far out by the on-fire McBride – to leave the score at the turnaround 21-0 in Donaghadee’s favour.

The Dee brought Sam Ingham off the bench and continued to press for the first ten minutes of the second period but were thwarted by the stubborn BHSFP defence until, with 52 minutes played, clever interplay between Morrow and stand-off Mark Cooper released centre Dicky Bailey who outpaced the home defence to score the Dee’s fourth and bonus point try which was converted by McBride.

As in the first-half BHSFP now enjoyed another successful ten minute period until a foray up-field by the Dee led to the home defence kicking to left-winger Chris Scott on the home 10 metre line. Although at first looking for his support Scott then utilised his not inconsiderable power to burst through a succession of would-be tacklers and eventually outpace the High School full-back to score in the left-hand corner for an unconverted try.

With High School now visibly tiring the Dee scored another unconverted try on 66 minutes when Montgomery grabbed his brace after a perfectly constructed lineout drive from his pack. The Dee now launched a variety of attacks but were frustrated by a variety of knock-ons and forward passes until Johnston matched Montgomery’s brace after he exploited the space left by the tiring home defence. McBride’s earlier mojo had now deserted him and the extras were not added.

With a few niggling injuries catching up with both teams in the quickly moistening and cold conditions the referee whistled no side with a couple of minutes to play leaving Donaghadee deserved winners by a margin of 43-0.

Another good day at the office for Dee and pleasing to see a number of recent returnees such as Conor Fulton, Adam Torrans & Phil Collins in the front row who each put hard afternoon’s work. A number of players put their hand up for Man of the Match including Montgomery & Mawhinney but, on this occasion, the award must go to the resurgent Kyle Morrow who is currently playing the best rugby of his senior career.

The Dee now rest-up for the week prior to next weekend’s Cup Final against Lurgan who play their other outstanding league game against Virgina this Tuesday evening. If they win this game (with a bonus point) it will leave them three points ahead of Donaghadee in advance of an effective league decider at Donaldson Park on Saturday 14th April.