Donaghadee were back on their travels once more this week with the long trip to Cavan amid some bracing autumnal weather. Although for the most part dry overhead a bitter wind was blowing towards the town end of the pitch. The Dee were without Karl Yellop, Stephen Adams and Rab Irwin due to a combination of work commitments and injury so Davy Kirkpatrick came into the centre with Owen Roberts moving into the back row and Andy McCracken partnering Kyle Morrow in the second row. Chris Good returned from holidays to take his place at loose-head and Adam Torrens made a welcome return to the bench after a long period of injury.

As his been the case more often than not this season Donaghadee started strongly and after 8 minutes Chris Hamilton broke through the Cavan fringe defence to find skipper Matthew Stockton in strong support. Stockton handed-off a would-be tackler and outpaced the remaining defence to open the scoring – stand-off Mark Cooper adding the extras. This reversal however stung the Cavan men into action and after a period of pressure orchestrated by their talented No. 10 they chose to go quickly from a tap penalty in the 22 and breached the unsuspecting Dee defence, which had not reorganised, to score an unconverted try in the corner. With 17 minutes now played Cavan were within 2 points of the Dee’s lead and the side-line support wondered if an upset was on the cards. Those fears were allayed however when on 25 minutes the back row broke and Sam Ingham offloaded the sweetest of passes to Danny McBride who outpaced the home defenders to score wide out. Cooper again converted. Five minutes later McBride again found a hole in the Cavan defence after Cooper found him with a flat pass and the pacy full-back got his second try of the day – this time unconverted. Cavan responded manfully and exerted no small degree of pressure on the Dee in their own territory but with the help of some outstanding defence the visitors held firm. After 35 minutes the Dee won a lineout on their own 22 and moved forward with some telling interplay between forwards and backs with Morrow, Hamilton, Stockton and Paul Johnston to the fore. The ball was successively moved from one side of the pitch to the other before eventually the space was created on the right for No. 8 Ingham to power over and score what was to be the best try of the day and also meant the bonus point had been won. The conversion was missed and the sides went into half-time with Donaghadee leading by 24-5.

Cavan opened the second half strongly but turnover ball allowed Cooper to kick deep into the home 22. The ball was fumbled by the Cavan defenders and then turned over by Kirkpatrick who ran in unopposed for an unconverted try which gave the Dee a 29-5 lead with only two minutes of the second-half played. Donaghadee now took the opportunity to make a couple of switches and both Torrens and Chris Scott came off the bench to replace Good and the injured Ben Siri respectively. After 52 minutes Cavan won a scrum on their own 22 but Dee hooker Morgan Macartney took a strike against the head and the ball was moved quickly to the blindside to allow McBride to go over in the corner for his hat-trick try. Although the conversion was missed Cooper regained his kicking mojo two minutes later after he put through Kirkpatrick with delightful flat pass to score his second try of the day. With Cavan beginning to tire the Dee sought to put the game to bed but were undone by some excellent last ditch defence before Hamilton drove and spun his way through the brave home defence to score beside the posts. Cooper converted to bring the score to 48-5. With 70 minutes played and Cavan pressing the Dee 22 the referee took the decision to end the game ten minutes early which although disappointing for the Dee support on the side-line was probably the pragmatic decision to make in the circumstances.

After a patchy start to the game this was ultimately a clinical performance by Donaghadee. Various players stood out with Morrow & McCracken having another good game, Phil Collins as solid as ever in set-piece and ball carrying, Owen Roberts getting through his usual mountain of work, Macartney making the No. 2 position his own together with the usual suspects in the backs standing out in the form of Johnston, Cooper & Stockton ably supported by the tryscorers and wingers Robbie Ingham and Scott. However as far as the Man of the Match award is concerned Sam Ingham and skipper Stockton went close but this week (as could probably be the case most weeks if truth were told) the award goes to open-side Chris Hamilton. Ever threatening in attack he was also the Dee’s most telling weapon in defence routinely snuffing out any semblance of recovery from the Cavan side by means of both his strength in the tackle and imperious work on the floor.

At this point it would be remiss not to mention our hosts County Cavan RFC. The welcome that this Club affords its visitors is unparalled within Ulster Rugby. The visiting support was treated to the usual hospitality pre-game, tea/coffee and sandwiches at half-time before players and supporters alike from both Clubs tucked into an excellent post-match meal. Magnificent hosting and Donaghadee RFC look forward to returning the compliment when Cavan visit Donaldson Park later in the season.

With the 2nd XV overcoming Lurgan II with a 26-17 bonus point win at Donaldson Park it was a good day for Donaghadee. Next Saturday the 1st XV make their third trip across the border in two weeks when the travel to Letterkenny whilst the 2nd XV travel to Fivemiletown to play Clogher Valley III.