Match report by Geoff Ingham

For the third week in a row Donaghadee made the long trip over the border to play an important match. This time it was for a league game against Letterkenny, who were fresh from an impressive away win last week. The Dee’s squad was similar to last week except for Jack Chesney and Rab Irwin who were both returning from injury. As the match kicked off in bright sunshine it was the home team who had all the possession and territory and the Dee had to ensure they quickly settled into their defensive routines. After 8 minutes the Dee eventually got their hands on the ball and their first foray into the opposition half resulted in the first score of the match. Centre Davy Kirkpatrick broke through a couple of tackles and managed to offload to Chris Hamilton who just managed to drag a couple of defenders plus himself over the line. Mark Cooper was successful with the conversion to make the score 7-0. For the next 10 minutes Letterkenny, who had the advantage of the strong wind, pinned the Dee back in their own half but they were unable to turn this into points as the Dee’s defence stood firm with some bone-crunching tackles from the likes of Chesney, Hamilton, Sam Ingham and Matthew Stockton. Eventually, Letterkenny were successful with a kick at goal after Dee infringed to make it 7-3. On the half hour mark Dee were awarded a penalty just inside Letterkenny’s half and Cooper found a good touch about 15 metres from the line. From the line out a good rolling maul was stopped just short and scrum-half Johnston confused the opposition by feeding Kyle Morrow on the blindside who scampered over for the Dee’s second try. The difficult kick was missed which left the score at 12-3. Almost immediately the Dee’s indiscipline cost them 3 points when Letterkenny kicked another penalty. The Dee responded well and scored try number three just before half time. After some good driving from the forwards the backs ran the ball and Stockton pulled in the defence before sending Ben Siri (pictured) away on the left wing. Siri had a lot of work still to do but cut inside his opposite number and did well to ground the ball over the line as he was tackled. Another difficult kick was missed to leave the half-time score 17-6 to the Dee.

Similar to the first half it was Letterkenny who started the stronger in the second. Wave after wave of attacks, particularly from their big forwards around the fringes, saw Letterkenny go extremely close on several occasions. After the referee had penalised the Dee a few times for various infringements it was Stockton who received a yellow card. Letterkenny took full advantage of the numerical difference and eventually managed to force themselves over the line. The kick was converted to bring the score to 17-13 and Letterkenny were back in the game. From the kick off Chesney took advantage of a misunderstanding between two Letterkenny forwards and made great inroads towards the try line, only being stopped by Letterkenny giving away a penalty which the ever- alert Johnston took quickly and forced his way over in the corner to score the bonus point try and bring the score to 22-13. Letterkenny were visibly tiring at this stage which allowed the Dee to dominate the final quarter of the game. A strong tackle by Stockton in the middle of the park forced a knock on and from the resulting scrum a backs move straight from the training pitch saw fullback Danny McBride slice through the defence and run in under the posts. Cooper converted to take the score to 29-13. A couple of minutes later Cooper made a trademark break and sent Hamilton flying towards the line. He looked to have taken the wrong option by not passing to Robbie Ingham on the wing, as he was brought down short of the line, but he managed to pop the ball to McBride who fell over the line to increase the score to 34-13. The last try of the day came after Cooper, who used the wind intelligently in the second half, prodded the ball deep into the Letterkenny 22 where the full back was forced into touch. The Letterkenny jumper won the resulting lineout but the Dee hooker, young Morgan McCartney, pounced on the loose tap back to score his first try for the Dee, much to the delight of himself and his teammates. Cooper was successful with the difficult conversion to take the score to 41-13. Five minutes later the referee brought the game to an end and the Dee continue their unbeaten run, although the scoreline probably does not reflect just how difficult this game was as Letterkenny probably enjoyed more possession and territory than the Dee would have liked. No individual wins this week’s man-of-the-match as the whole team deserve praise for the team performance and in particular for their defensive efforts. Next week sees a welcome return to Donaldson Park where the Dee entertain Ophir and the 2nd XV travel to meet CIYMS 3rd XV both games kicking off 2.30pm.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DONAGHADEE RFC

Legend has it that the Dee first picked up a ball in anger in November 1885 and so the Club is celebrating this fact with an all-day 133rd birthday bash next Saturday at Donaldson Park - full details can be found at https://www.facebook.com/events/2418576914835643/