Having suffered a 45-19 defeat to their visitors, Larne, at The Glynn in September Donaghadee were keen to redress the balance and continue their winning current league form which had led to a straight four wins in a row prior to the reversal against the excellent Ballymoney side two weeks previously. The Dee welcomed Kyle Morrow back into the second row and Karl Yellop returned to the centre allowing Adam Alexander to slip back to fullback and Chris McGivern to move to the wing. Although still missing Paul Johnston, Matthew Mingout, Danny McBride, Stevie Adams and Ewan McCracken the Dee men were confident they could make life difficult for the Co. Antrim men.

With five minutes gone Larne had the early pressure but the Dee were disappointed to concede a penalty when they were deemed to be off their feet at a ruck. The ensuing Larne kick rebounded off the post and was knocked on as the Dee attempted to clear. Larne again pressed the home line and were eventually awarded another penalty and elected to kick to the line. From the ensuing lineout clean possession was gained and the burly Larne prop drove his way over the line after a perfectly executed rolling maul. The extras were added and Larne found themselves in a 7-0 lead with the same amount of minutes played. The Dee now attacked for the next few minutes and superb backs movement back and forth in the visiting half eventually saw Mark Cooper deftly chip ahead behind the Larne defence. The Larne fullback fumbled the wickedly rolling ball and McGivern was on hand to pick up and dive over the line to open the Dee’s account in the corner. The conversion was missed but the Dee were now only two points behind. Three minutes later Ally Barnes made a barnstorming drive through the Larne midfield before feeding centre Matthew Stockton who found himself in the clear and raced from forty metres out to score under the posts – Cooper adding the extras for the Dee to take the lead at 12-7. Larne now began to dominate proceedings and were only kept at bay by some stern defence from Yellop, Stockton, Chris Hamilton and Sam Ingham. Eventually, however, the pressure told and Larne had two penalty attempts at posts, both of which, were missed before eventually punishing the creaking home defence to score a try with forty minutes on the clock, taking a 14-12 lead after the extras were converted. The Dee then had opportunity to re-take the lead in injury time after some telling drives by Ray Dobson, Yellop and Alexander but the chance was forsaken when a penalty lineout misfired in the corner and a relieved Larne cleared their lines.

Being only two points behind the Dee started the second half with some degree of confidence given that they now had the advantage of both the “hill” and the sun. The home side started off brightly and before long they pressed the opposition line. From a scrum on the twenty-two Ingham picked up from No. 8 and fed to Yellop who made great ground before ball was recycled and Robbie Ingham found Cooper who fed the supporting Alexander who, in turn, found Jonny Bell who crashed over to score in the corner. Although the conversion was missed the Dee had now nudged ahead and led by 17-14. Donaghadee were now enjoying a purple path and, led by the dynamic carrying of Dobson, Barnes, Robert Dougan and Jack Chesney increasingly applied pressure to the visitor’s defensive line. Five minutes later the Dee were now playing some confident rugby with forwards and backs interlinking when one wide move found Chris Scott (who had replaced the injured Morrow) taking a superb line from a Stockton pass before crashing through hapless defenders to score the bonus point try to the left of the posts. Cooper added the conversion and the Dee were now 24-14 ahead. Sadly the elation of taking a substantial lead led to a fall in concentration levels and Larne brought themselves back into the game a few minutes later when another perfectly executed rolling maul allowed them to score an unconverted try in the corner to bring the score back to 24-19 in favour of Donaghadee. The home side continued to apply the pressure and ten minutes later were unlucky not score close to the posts when a Yellop / Stockton inspired break looked to have resulted in another try only for the ball to spilled close to the line. This slip inspired the ever-dangerous Larne side and the now tested the Dee defence to its utmost over the next twenty minutes. With Dobson, replacement Jonny Gamble and Owen Roberts to the fore the Dee men held firm and repulsed whatever Larne could throw at them. On seventy seven minutes the Dee were awarded a penalty just outside the twenty two and Cooper stepped up to dissect the posts and leave the Dee with a 27-19 lead. Still Larne refused to lie down and over a nervy last six minutes of play (including injury time) pressed Donaghadee once again in an attempt to gain both a losing and try scoring bonus point. The Dee rear-guard held firm however and there was no more change to the score when the referee blew his whistle for no side as the January late-afternoon gloom descended on Donaldson Park.

This was a very hard won five points against a talented side and the denial of any points to the opposition may well prove crucial in the league standings come season’s end. As ever standout performances from the usual notables, plus Cooper had his best game since returning from injury as did Alexander since his return to the red and green. Man of the Match however goes to Ray Dobson whose power in both defence and attack was a telling difference between the sides all afternoon and demonstrated the rich vein of form the prop has been displaying over recent weeks.

Next week Donaghadee welcome Academy to Donaldson Park in what is sure to be another close-fought affair (ko 2:30pm).