Match report by Geoff Ingham

Dee were on the road again on Saturday, this time travelling to Strabane to take on a team lying in fifth position in the league. Dee fielded a strong team, welcoming back Sam Ingham, Chris Hamilton and Chris Good in the pack and Chris Knox took a place on the bench in his first appearance of the season. It almost felt like a home game for the Dee as they were cheered on by an impressive crowd of over 30 Donaghadee supporters. The game kicked off in good conditions and the Dee got off to an ideal start when Sam Ingham did well to secure possession of a difficult bouncing ball in the midfield and from the resulting ruck Karl Yellop broke through several tackles and then passed to Matthew Stockton who ran 20 metres to touch down for the opening score, which was converted by Mark Cooper. Dee continued to pressurise Strabane and this paid off when Stockton scored his second try after strong carries by Sam Ingham and Yellop. Cooper was successful with the conversion to make the score 14-0. Try number three followed shortly afterwards when the forwards were rewarded for their hard work when veteran Chris Good crashed over after a number of strong drives. Cooper converted to bring the score to 21-0. Strabane were struggling to get into the game as Dee’s defence was solid and snuffed out any danger very quickly. Dee were also showing their supremacy in the scrum, with Jamie Wilson and Good dominating their opposing props and the bonus point try came after 17 minutes when scrum-half Paul Johnston had the simplest of tasks to touch down after a strong scrum close to Strabane’s line. Cooper’s attempt at the conversion sailed wide of the posts to leave the score at 26-0. The majority of the next 20 minutes was played in the Strabane half, although several chances to score went a-begging due to lapses in concentration or the final pass not going to hand. When Strabane did have possession the defence proved solid with flankers Chris Hamilton and Owen Roberts to the fore and both wingers, Chris McGivern and Robbie Ingham looking very solid when fielding high balls. Just before half time Strabane had a scrum 5 metres from their own line, but young Morgan McCartney managed a rare strike against the head and the subsequent drive from the rest of the pack allowed Number 8 Ingham to touch down and score the fifth try of the game. Cooper converted and the referee blew for the end of the half with Dee winning 33-0.

In the tenth minute of the second half Ingham scored his second try, which was almost a replica of his first, as he dived over the line from another strong scrum, with Andy McCracken and Kyle Morrow doing a great job in the engine room. Cooper converted to bring the score to 40-0. Dee continued to play entertaining rugby with both forwards and backs showing good ball-handling skills and excellent organisation in defence and after 57 minutes Captain Stockton completed his hat-trick when he finished off a fine move to bring the score to 45-0. Cooper continued his fine kicking display by adding the conversion. 10 minutes later the Dee scored again when Sam Ingham broke through and sent Jamie Wilson sprinting up the wing. The birthday boy showed his class by drawing the fullback and giving a sublime off-load to Danny McBride who touched down in the corner. Cooper missed the difficult conversion. To Strabane’s credit they never gave up and tried manfully to register a score. The Dee’s defence, however, stood firm with Jack Chesney to the fore as he came off the bench to contribute with his usual bone-crunching tackles. Dee showed great determination to keep their line intact, in particularly to repel a rolling maul that contained almost the whole Strabane team. The Dee had the final say when Chris Knox showed his pace to score in the corner after several impressive phases of play. Cooper missed the conversion and the referee brought the game to an end with the final score at 57-0. This was another solid performance where everyone contributed but the man-of-the-match this week goes to captain Matthew Stockton who had another great game resulting in a hat-trick of tries. The Dee now have two home games in a row, the first of which sees them entertaining Virginia on Saturday at 2.30pm.