Match report by Geoff Ingham

Donaghadee welcomed Monaghan to Donaldson Park on Saturday for a first-round tie in the Towns Cup. Although Monaghan play in the division below the Dee, a close encounter was anticipated due to the Dee’s indifferent form this season coupled with the fact that the visitors sit proudly at the top of their league with eight wins from eight games. Whilst the Dee decided to rest Ray Dobson and Sam Ingham for this game they were able to welcome back Paul Hamilton, Jack Chesney and Robbie Grant into the forward pack. James Small had his first start at prop and young Nathan Boyd kept his place in the second row after impressing in his debut last week. Ben Beattie started at scrum half, Matt Leebody came into the centre and Ben Siri returned on the wing. The game was played in exceptionally moist conditions due to the heavy rain that fell throughout the match, so it was never going to be a festival of running rugby. The first 10 minutes of the game was played mostly in the Dee’s half with both teams sharing the possession. Dee’s defensive line stood firm and Mark Cooper cleared his lines well on several occasions. In the 12th minute Dee were penalised for an infringement at a ruck and the Monaghan fullback converted the kick to put the visitors 3-0 up. The next period of play followed a similar pattern, the Dee defending well with the back row of Padric Aherne, Johnny Gamble and Robbie Grant to the fore. Monaghan were unlucky not to double their lead after 25 minutes when another penalty attempt went just wide of the upright. The remainder of the half belonged to the Dee with astute kicking from Cooper and Ben Beattie pinning Monaghan in their 22. Although the Dee could not find that vital breakthrough they were rewarded when Cooper slotted over a penalty just before the break to leave the half-time score 3-3.

The Dee started the second half strongly and soon found themselves in the Monaghan 22 after some strong drives by Paul Hamilton, Jack Chesney and Nathan Boyd and a couple of great kicks from Beattie. Aherne and McCracken were winning some good lineout ball in the difficult conditions and eventually this hard work paid off when Jack Chesney managed to bulldoze his way over the line for an unconverted try to give the Dee an 8-3 lead with 25 minutes remaining. Monaghan came back into the game at this point with their impressive outhalf controlling the play and keeping the pressure on the Dee back three, forcing them to turn, gather and clear their lines on several occasions. Things got harder for the Dee when they went down to 14 men after a yellow card for a high tackle but to their credit they defended well and were able to keep Monaghan at bay. At this point teenager Paul Miller made his 1st XV debut from the bench and Bryn McCartney also joined the fray. With 5 minutes of the game left Monaghan managed to score after several phases close to the Dee line. The conversion was missed leaving the scores level at 8-8. As the game moved into injury time, and with extra time looming, Monaghan produced the play of the game when a crossfield kick bounced beautifully into the arms of the oncoming winger who ran in behind the posts to score a converted try. Surprisingly, the game restarted and a couple of minutes later Monaghan managed another score to leave the final score 22-8 to the visitors. Although this was another disappointment for the Dee, albeit with a scoreline that slightly flattered the opposition, there were plenty of positives.

Overall, this was another improved performance, with the young players gaining invaluable experience every week. There were several contenders for man of the match including James Small, who had an excellent first game at prop, and Matthew Mingout who was impressive in the centre. However, the stand out player this week was the irrepressible scrum half, Ben Beattie, who had an excellent game in both defence and attack.

Next week Portadown are the visitors for a rearranged league game, kick off 2.30pm.