With many matches in Ulster falling victim to the first hard frost of winter Donaldson Park was however in good condition and over 90 people enjoyed an excellent Christmas lunch catered by Pier 36 and sponsored by the Donnelly Motor Group with Ulster Rugby CEO Jonny Petrie speaking to the assembled prior to the main event on the pitch. Ards had beaten Donaghadee by a 29-15 margin in the reverse fixture played in October, but the Dee were hopeful a recent upturn in form would hold them in good stead against their near neighbours in this festive derby fixture. Once again, the Dee showed a number of squad changes due to a combination of injury and unavailability. Dropping out were Dylan Robinson, Jack Chesney, Matthew Mingout, Robbie Grant and Adam Alexander, Andy McCracken and coming back in were Peter Callaghan, Morgan Paulin & Chris McGivern. Skipper Ally Lockhart remained on the injured list with Ben Bettie continuing to deputise for him at scrum-half and Vice-Captain Sam Ingham leading the side.

Donaghadee lost the toss but started the stronger of the two sides and, with 5 minutes played worked their way down to the Clubhouse corner. A penalty lineout was secured and the ensuing drive carried the pack over the Ards line before Sam Ingham wrestled the ball to the ground to open the scoring, Mark Cooper converting. For the next 20 minutes the two sides were evenly matched but eventually Ards cobbled together a sweet threequarter movement to allow their right winger to score in the top right hand ccorner. Eight minutes later the Dee secured ball just outside their own 22 and a clever 8/9/back-row move eventually released right-wing Robbie Ingham who showed great pace to run in from halfway for an unconverted try. Two minutes later the Dee nearly stretched further ahead but the attempted interception of an Ards back movement was spilled. As the ball went backwards Jody Newell was able to secure the loose ball and Donaghadee continued to press until the first minute of injury time in the first half when they were awarded a penalty in front of the Ards posts allowing Cooper to take the score at the break to 15-5 in favour of the home side.

The Dee once again started strongly from kick -off with Ray Dobson, Paddy Ahearn and Ally Barnes particularly prominent up front. After 45 minutes a Barnes drive carried the ball to the Ards 22 before inventive interplay in the threequarters resulted in the impressive Callaghan crossing for Donaghadee’s third try of the afternoon which, once again, remained unconverted. The home side now faced a committed onslaught from their opponents but stern defence kept them at bay – with Newell, Chris & Paul Hamilton, Callaghan, Bryn Macartney & Beattie leading from the front. With five minutes of the second half remaining Ards worked a training paddock move off a lineout on the Dee 10 metre line and their blindside flanker Trevor Devlin burst through midfield to score under the Dee posts. The Dee faithful were now little nervous given that some protracted stoppages in the second period meant there could be significant injury time to be played. Ards secured ball from the restart and pressed the Dee once again but sterling defence from the home side prevented the Hamilton Park men from gaining any further traction and the game ended with no further change to the scoring finishing 20-12 in favour of Donaghadee.

Although any derby victory is pleasing this one was particularly so given the impact of squad personnel unavailability throughout the first half of the league campaign. Over the past number of weeks however performances and results have improved culminating in a first victory since the opening league game of the season. This improvement is due in no small part to the application of the squad and the influence of the coaching and leadership teams allied to the emergence of a host of Academy graduates such as Ben Beattie, Adam Whiteside, Matthew Mingout, Bryn McCartney, Jonny Moore, Nathan Boyd, Jody Newell, Jonny Gamble, Robbie Grant, Dylan Robinson etc.
Once again selection of the Man of the Match Award was not straightforward – Beattie, Dobson, Ahearn, Barnes, Sam Ingham and the two Hamiltons all in with a shout. In the end however the award goes to centre Peter Callaghan whose performances have steadily improved since his debut a number of weeks ago to the point where, in this game, both his defensive and offensive play was first-class and proved to be thorn in the opposition’s side all afternoon.
The 1st XV’s last game pre-Christmas will be next Saturday when they travel to Randalstown to play the league leaders (k.o. 2:30pm)