Match report by Geoff Ingham

Dee travelled to Newry on Saturday for a quarter-final contest in the Gordon West Cup and were cheered on by a large number of Dee supporters, some of whom had experienced Newry’s excellent hospitality at the pre-match lunch. Newry kicked off with the moderate breeze at their backs and had the most of both possession and territory in the early minutes. After five minutes Newry were awarded a kickable penalty after Dee transgressed at a scrum, however, the attempt sailed wide of the posts. Almost immediately after this let-off the Dee were penalised for a high tackle and this time Newry opted to kick to the corner. From the resulting lineout the formidable Newry pack set up a maul and rumbled towards the line before one of the forwards broke away to touch down for the first score of the game. It was then the Dee’s turn to have some possession and they spent the next five minutes in the opposition’s 22. They were awarded several penalties during this phase but chose not to kick for points, each time opting to run the ball. In the 12th minute Paul Johnston managed to force his way over the line and the referee awarded the try, despite Newry’s protests. Mark Cooper was successful with the conversion which gave the Dee a slim 7-5 lead. Newry came roaring back into the game with their heavy pack dominating play as they worked their way deep into the Dee’s half and after a few more minutes scored a similar try to their first when one of the forwards went over to score. This time the kick was converted and the lead changed hands again with Newry now 12-7 in front. As the game progressed the Dee forwards began to assert some authority with the back row of Chris Hamilton, Stephen Adams and Sam Ingham all to the fore. The backs ran the ball at every opportunity and both wingers Chris McGivern and Robbie Ingham made good runs with the latter being stopped just short of the line. Another quick tap from a penalty saw Johnston being held up over the line and after another penalty move it was the mercurial Hamilton who managed to barge over to touch down. Cooper missed the conversion which meant the score was now level at 12-12. The Dee maintained the pressure on Newry and the Newry scrum half was shown a yellow card for a high tackle. Dee took advantage of this numerical difference when with 5 minutes of the half to go registered their third try of the game. The ball was fed out to Robbie Ingham on the wing who then jinked and dummied his way past three defenders before making the ball available for Chris Knox to run in under the posts. Karl Yellop took over the kicking duties from the injured Cooper and was successful with the simple conversion to give the Dee a 19-12 half time lead.

With the wind advantage Dee started the second half continuing to dominate the play and soon found themselves in Newry’s 22. From a 5 metre scrum the Dee managed to push the much heavier pack back towards their line and that allowed number 8 Sam Ingham to pick up and crash over to score. Yellop was successful with the tricky kick, pushing the Dee into a 26-12 lead. If the Dee thought that Newry were going to give up at this stage they were mistaken as Newry then dominated the next 15 minutes and were camped in the Dee’s 22. A plethora of scrums was well defended by the Dee and it was only due to some mighty tackles by the likes of Hamilton and Matthew Stockton that stopped Newry from scoring. When the Dee did get possession they looked dangerous and on one occasion Stockton made an excellent break only to butcher the chance with a wild pass. The rest of the game was mostly played out in the middle of the park with both teams’ defences cancelling each other out and neither team able to create any real try-scoring opportunities, leaving the final score 26-12 to the Dee.

This was a good result against a competitive Newry side, albeit that the Dee looked slightly rusty to begin with after not having played for several weeks. The pack did well against a heavier pack with the ever-green Chris Good having an excellent game in both the tight and the loose. The backs showed how dangerous they can be in attack and as usual were sound in defence. However, this week’s man-of-the-match goes to Sam Ingham who was prominent throughout the match with his driving runs from the base of the scrum, his defence and his work at the breakdown. The Dee’s next match is on 2nd March when they entertain Letterkenny at Donaldson Park in a league fixture, kick off at 2.30pm.