Donaghadee 1st XV vs. Newry 1st XV
Match Reporter - Adam Torrans

This Week Donaghadee travelled to Newry on a bright moist and gusty Saturday afternoon with another crucial league match and bonus point win to take home.

Donaghadee started well on a pitch that looked in good shape from the side lines but as the game went on looked very heavy underfoot.
Within the first five minutes of the game the Dee men were attacking inside the newry half making good inroads with strong carries from Kyler and Aussie Connor.

After two or three phases from the pack the ball was moved wide to Rory Garnham in the centre, with a half break from Garnham and an offload to Stocky with slick hands to put Danny McBride
over in the Corner and the kick just wide 5-0 Dee.

Newry Came straight back at the Dee men from the kickoff but solid defence in our own 22 led to a Knock on from the homeside, with the first scrum of the day unmovable with the front row of Campbell, Fulton and Collins giving a
great platform for cooper to clear the lines. Newry lineout just inside the Dee half.

Newry again attacked well but the Donaghadee defence looked unrelenting with Chrissy Hamilton making a crunching tackle, ball spilt Scrum down with a Dee put in.
The Dee men attacked well again but newry remaied organised in defence and kept the red and green shirts off their line.
The next score came in the form of antoher trademark break from Paul Johnston at 9 after a scrum in the middle of the park, jonty picks beats the newry 7 who rushed up quickly steps around and through antoher 3 newry men and
runs half the pitch to score under the posts, with the extras from Cooper 12-0 Donaghadee.
From the restart the Dee gather well and exit their half with the boot of Cooper, Newry gathered this kick and gained a penalty for a Dee offisde, taken quickly by the newry 9 and chipped down the left side of the ptich to
go out of play just outside the five meter line. The lineout is spilt forward by a Newry hand resulting in another solid Dee scrum and a good exit up to our 10m line.

After a period of loose possession and good attack and defence from both teams the half ended with the Newry men nearly breaching the otherwise solid Dee defence after an intercept in the
middle of the park but a great cover tackle from Richard Bailey and a Penalty for not releasing earned by Connor Fulton the Dee men clear their lines to end the half.

The Dee men Started the second half well after receiving a penalty for Newry feet in the ruck, Coopers boot puts us outside the home 22, the pack opt to maul from the lineout but again are awarded
a penalty for playing the man in the air. Coopers boot puts us on the Newry men's 22 with another good lineout and well set up maul, the Dee pack walk over the line with Campbell to touch down
for the 3rd try of the day with the kick just shy of the post 17-0 Donaghadee.

From a Dee Scrum Chris Mcgiv hits a great line mid park after making about 15 meters himself he offloads to Dicky who sends a lovely miss pass to put Prop Ryan Campbell in the corner for the bonus point try.
Cooper slotting the difficult kick from the touchline to make it 24-0 to the Dee men.
The last try of the day came from a lovely move off a mid park scrum, Danny McBride in lots of space with Stocky and Mcgiv in support with slick passing from Danny to Stocky and on to Mcgiv the Newry scramble defence
stopped Mcgiv just short of the line, with the ruck won Stocky takes a quick pass and is bundled over the line for the last try. Cooper slots the conversion to make it 31-0 and the final whistle is sounded.

Another great performance from the whole squad who travelled up to Newry, the defence from the Donaghadee men was outstanding all day, providing countless knock on turnovers and again keeping that all important nil on our end.

Man of the match today will have to be Chris Hamilton for a great shift in attack and defence all day.