Match report by Geoff Ingham

Thanks to the help of a hard-working band of volunteers on Saturday morning, the Donaghadee pitch was deemed playable, despite the heavy overnight rain. The visitors were Co Cavan rugby club who had made the long journey north to contest the semi-final of the Gordon West Cup. The Dee were able to field a strong team for this game, welcoming back the likes of Captain Matthew Stockton, Kyle Morrow, Chris Knox and Stephen Adams to the match day squad.

The game kicked off in bright sunshine with the Dee playing up the hill into the strong breeze and the crowd hoping the moist conditions underfoot would not hinder a free flowing game of rugby. Cavan had the majority of possession in the early stages but the pressure was dealt with comfortably due to some good organised defence. After just 10 minutes the Dee’s first foray into the opposition’s 22 resulted in the first score of the day. From a lineout the forwards set up an excellent rolling maul and then moved the ball, out-half Mark Cooper’s pass allowing Stockton to go through a gap in the Cavan defence to score under the posts. Cooper converted to put the Dee 7-0 ahead. Five minutes later the Dee had the scoreboard ticking over again when good runs by Sam Ingham and Stockton created the opportunity for full back Knox to outsprint the defence to score. Cooper missed the easy conversion leaving the score 12-0 to the Dee. Cavan came back into the game for the next 10 minutes but any threats were soon nullified by good defence which was superbly organised by Stockton in the midfield. As the game entered its second quarter the Dee increased their lead when after a strong scrum and a couple of forward drives the in-form Sam Ingham forced his way over the line. Karl Yellop, who had taken over the kicking duties, was successful with the conversion pushing the score to 17-0. Soon after, an altercation at a ruck resulted in Paul Johnston receiving a slightly harsh yellow card. This seemed to give Cavan some encouragement and after some strong running and good interplay between forwards and backs the numerical advantage paid off and allowed Cavan to register their first score of the day which was converted to bring the score to 17-7. The Dee bounced back almost immediately when Cooper found a good touch after being awarded a penalty. The scrappy line out was well cleaned up by the forwards and the ball was then moved to Knox who had entered the line. The full back showed excellent skills by squirming his way past several defenders before diving over to score his second try of the day. Yellop was successful with the conversion which made the half time score 24-7 to the Dee.

With the wind and the slope now in their favour the large crowd of Donaghadee supporters were expecting to see several more tries in the second half and fortunately the team didn’t let them down. After only four minutes of the half gone another strong scrum saw Sam Ingham picking up from the base and sending brother Robbie off on a run. From the next ruck it was the strong-running Yellop who burst through to touch down and then convert his own score. For the next quarter of an hour the plucky Cavan side played their best rugby of the day and the Dee were tested on several occasions. The Dee’s defence held firm again, exemplified by the tackling of young hooker Johnny Gamble who put in an extraordinary number of tackles throughout his time on the field.

As the match moved into the final quarter Dee’s superior fitness began to tell. A kick ahead was well fielded by Richard Baillie, who had replaced the injured Knox, and a strong run saw him stopped just inside the Cavan 22. The ball was moved quickly along the backline and winger Robbie Ingham scampered over to score. Yellop missed the difficult conversion leaving the score at 36-7. Out-half Cooper was taking advantage of the wind and continually pinned Cavan deep inside their 22. The next score came from a turnover in the middle of the park. The ball was quickly moved to Yellop who made good ground down the left before slipping the ball inside to Chris Scott who ran 30 metres to score. The try was converted to make it 43-7. After another probing kick by Cooper from a penalty it was the forwards turn to score when Kyle Morrow touched down after an excellent rolling maul from the lineout. Five minutes later good supporting play saw Andy McCracken crash over for the last try of the day and the referee blew for full-time leaving Dee victorious 53-7 and booking themselves into the Gordon West final versus Monaghan at the Kingspan on 6th April. This was a great team effort and there were many contenders for man-of-the -match. This week’s award goes to out-half Mark Cooper who, for the second week in a row, kicked astutely out of hand and dictated the play throughout the game.