Donaghadee travelled to Newry for the final league game of the season in search one final win to complete the perfect campaign. Pre-match there was a little trepidation on the side-line however given that, of the squad of twenty who were in the Gordon West Cup two weeks previously, ten were missing for a variety of reasons. In addition Newry had proved stern opponents in both the reverse league fixture and the cup quarter final earlier in the season.

Initially those reservations were well-founded come kick off as, for the first fifteen minutes of the game Newry dominated possession and the Dee struggled for any meaningful attacking opportunities. The Dee defence stood strong however and, on the seventeenth minute Ewan McCracken carried powerfully over the ten metre line before releasing the supporting Karl Yellop who broke two tackles and score close to the posts. Yellop added the extras himself and after a further four minutes some great groundwork by Chris Scott led the skipper Matthew Stockton who spun through two tackles and then outpace the home defence and touch down. Yellop again converted and suddenly the Dee had opened a 14-0 lead over their hitherto stubborn opponents. After twenty seven minutes play Yellop broke the home defence before passing to Dee No. 10 Mark Cooper who dinked the ball through on the ground for full-back Danny McBride to follow up and beat his defending opponents to the ball to touch down in the right hand corner. The much more difficult conversion attempt held no fear for Yellop as he confidently dissected the uprights once again. Seven minutes later the bonus point try was scored by Scott from forty metres out after had been fed a delightful flat ball by Cooper, once again converted by the on-fire Yellop. This latest score appeared to temporarily break the spirit of the South Down men and two minutes later great hands from Ethan McFerran allowed McBride to release right winger Robbie Ingham who raced in under the posts for another converted try to bring the score to 0-35 in the Dee’s favour.

Halftime was reached without any further scoring and Donaghadee opened the second period in much the same manner as they had left the first and on forty eight minutes replacement prop Davy Skipp forced his way over from a lineout drive following a succession of penalties, Yellop again adding the extras. This latest setback brought renewed spirit to the Newry men however and their close driving game together with a willingness to open the ball to their backs when the opportunity arose took them to lineout on the Dee five metre line after a Dee forward had transgressed in a ruck. Although the Dee stole the subsequent throw-in the ball was knocked back over the line and the Newry hooker won the race to dot down over line and open his side’s account with an unconverted try. For the next ten minutes Newry continued to provide problems for their visitors but the Dee defence stood strong with Jack Chesney prominent in pulling off some thunderous tackles as well as carrying powerfully into the opposition ranks and when scrum-half Ollie Hamilton broke blind inside his own twenty-two support was on hand to carry the ball up the pitch before Robbie Ingham found some space to beat his opposite number before finding McBride with an inside pass allowing the pacy No. 15 to score his second converted try of the afternoon. On sixty eight minutes the Newry No. 10 was yellow carded for a deliberate knockdown. The Dee went to the line again and the powerful drive from the ensuing lineout after another superb Andy McCracken take allowed Hamilton to break blind once again to find the supporting McBride to complete his hat- trick in the left hand corner – Yellop again confidently knocking over the conversion from the touchline. The never-say-die attitude of the spirited Newry side came to the fore once again in the final ten minutes and placed the visitors under sustained pressure. Donaghadee again defended stoutly with the back row of Stockton, Sam Ingham and Jonny Gamble particularly prominent. On eighty minutes the home side’s efforts were undone when Owen Roberts intercepted on the thirty metre marked to sprint in to score the last try of the game – Yellop nonchalantly completing his perfect afternoon with the boot to bring the final score to 63-5 in Donaghadee’s favour.

In terms of this week’s Man of the Match as ever quite a few put up their hands but, after coming extremely close last week against Virginia, lock Ewan McCracken gets the accolade this time out. Ewan’s efforts around the park in both defence and attack were admirable and proved an inspiration to his teammates – a great future in the game awaits this young man!

A super performance then to bring the season to a close leaving Donaghadee with 22 wins out of 22 and league points of 106 out of a possible 110. The last three years have been tumultuous for the Club but a league record over the past two seasons of 42 won, 1 drawn & 1 lost together with two appearances at Kingspan Ravenhill speaks volumes for the efforts of current Head Coach Paul Blewitt and Assistant Coach Chris Good. The spirit they, together with Captain Matthew Stockton and Vice-Captain Chris Hamilton, have imbued in the squad is palpable and the style of play skilful and exciting. These days a wider team is required to help the Coaching and Management teams and integral in that this season have been people such as Ryan Campbell, Davy Kirkpatrick, Tom Northey, Gavin Wallace, Jamie Wilson, Geoff Ingham – all in a variety of supporting roles - and, of course, Director of Rugby Andy Monson (apologies to anyone involved who has been inadvertently overlooked). It has been a singular pleasure following the guys over the past two seasons and we all look forward to the challenges Championship 2 will bring next season!