Match report by Geoff Ingham

Donaghadee travelled to Roughfort on New Years Eve to take on Academy in a Kukri Championship League game. The corresponding fixture earlier in the season was a one-sided affair with Dee suffering their heaviest defeat of the campaign, so the travelling support were hoping for a more pleasing result following Dee’s recent improved run of form. Although forwards Callum Montgomery, Paul Hamilton, Robbie Grant and Chris Hamilton were all unavailable, Head Coach Paul Blewitt was able to field a pair of Jacks in the second row – namely Jack Chesney and Jack Cooke. Bryn McCartney moved into hooker and fellow teenager, Nathan Boyd, played in the back row. The backline saw the welcome return of both Captain Ali Lockhart, after a 10-week layoff, and Adam Alexander. Ben Beattie moved to outside centre and Zac Moraghan came in at full back. The versatile Robbie Ingham started on the bench and was accompanied by 1st XV debutant Noah Greenald. The heavy rain in the morning had produced a moist playing surface but thankfully the rain had eased by the time of kick off and the wind had also dropped to a slight breeze. Academy kicked off and the Dee started well and soon found themselves in the opposition’s half. After only 3 minutes Academy were penalised and Mark Cooper slotted over the kick at goal to put the Dee into a 3-0 lead. Five minutes later the scores were level when the Academy kicker slotted over a long-range effort. The next 15 minutes were hugely frustrating for the Dee as they had the majority of possession but struggled to get out of their own half due to being penalised several times at the breakdown. This resulted in Academy converting two of these penalties to give them a 9-3 lead. This could have been more if it hadn’t been for a couple of excellent line out steals from both Padric Ahearne and Sam Ingham in the Dee’s 22. Dee finally managed to make progress when Jody Newell fielded a clearance kick and passed inside to the forwards. A strong driving run by Ali Barnes and then another by Chesney took play deep into the Academy 22. The ball was recycled quickly and fed to the charging Ray Dobson who crashed through a couple of tackles and ran in below the posts. Cooper was successful with the conversion to give Dee a one-point lead. In the last 5 minutes of the half Dee increased their lead when they wisely opted to take shots at goal on two occasions when Academy were penalised. Cooper converted both penalties to leave the half time score 16-9 in Dee’s favour.

The second half continued in the same vein, this time Dee were harshly penalised when a turnover looked certain. The Academy kicker made no mistake to close the gap to 16-12. Dee came back immediately when Ben Beattie weaved past a few defenders and Mark Cooper slid a lovely kick in behind the defence. Zac Moraghan showed his pace by beating his opposite number to the touchdown. Cooper missed the difficult conversion. Noah Greenald entered the fray at this stage and the big teenager certainly did not look out of place in both the tight and loose play. For the next 15 minutes the Dee were in control and had several forays into the Academy 22. The ever-vigilant referee penalised Academy twice during this time and Cooper calmly slotted over both kicks to extend the Dee’s lead to 27-12 with 25 minutes of the match to go. Academy began to creep back into the match and soon had established themselves in Dee’s 22. From a scrum close to the line they chose to run the ball wide and a score looked on until a deliberate knock on saw the Dee defender dispatched to the sin bin. Academy gained in confidence with this numerical advantage and 5 minutes later managed to cross for a score which was duly converted to close the gap to 27-19. A Dee mistake gave possession back to Academy and after several phases one of their forwards burst through a crowd of players to score under the posts. The successful conversion brought Academy to within a point and the momentum was certainly with the home side in the last few minutes. The Dee fought hard to gain territory but were again penalised which allowed Academy to move into the Dee’s half. As the Dee had struggled all day with the interpretation of the breakdown they were now reluctant to try for a turnover as not one had been successfully achieved by either side during the whole game. As the game moved into the final minute Academy moved the ball back and forth across the field but the Dee’s defence held out. When eventually an opportunity arose the Dee and both sets of supporters thought they had turned over the ball, however, the penalty went Academy’s way. The excellent academy kicker showed his class as he successfully converted the kick and the referee blew for full time to leave the final score 29-27 for the home team.

A losing bonus point was scant consolation for the Dee but the overall performance of the team is moving in the right direction. Man of the match this week goes to Mark Cooper(pictured), successful with 6 out of his 7 attempts at goal. Next week the Dee welcome Virginia to Donaldson Park for a crucial league game and all support would be very welcome. Kick off 2.30pm.