This season Donaghadee have been guilty of producing performances of inconsistent levels, but the squad will have gone into Saturday’s fixture against Clogher Valley knowing that only a very good performance was likely to be enough to get anything from this particular fixture.

With a swirling wind to their back and playing down towards the clubhouse corner Donaghadee started the game gaining early territory with a well-placed Paul McKenzie nudge deep into the Clogher 22. This early forage into the opponents half was however short lived and was to be the last attack Dee had before a ten minute period of defending their own line.

The defensive effort from the Dee team was disciplined, physical and purposeful and such was its effectiveness both the home side and those on the Donaldson Park touchline appeared to take a degree of confidence from those early defensive efforts.

Frustratingly Donagahdee failed to grasp a couple of opportunities to clear their lines effectively and invited repeat pressure on their lines and on the 21st minute the defensive effort did not do enough to stop the Clogher inside centre PC Falconer from bullying his way over the Dee line from close range. The conversion was pushed wide.

After this score Donaghadee were able to get a better handle on possession and started asking their own questions of a so far untested Valley defence. Dee back row forward Max Montgomery was consistently getting past the gain line with his darts from the back of the scrum and Adams and Martindale’s first time tackling did not allow Valley to build up any momentum in the middle of the park.

Four minutes before half time McKenzie received the ball just inside his own half and launched a high ball deep into the Valley half. The sheer height of the ball coupled with the swirling wind caused havoc in the Valley defence and as the ball bounced uncollected, the livewire Ryan Irvine pounced, collected and show good pace to run in for Donaghadee’s first points of the day. Mark Cooper was successful with the conversion to give the home side a 7-5 lead.

Dee continued on the front foot for the last period of first half play and were unfortunate to miss an injury time penalty attempt.

The difficult wind calmed for the start of the second period which was to Donaghadee’s favour and the home side started the second period as they finished the first. Unfortunately although the effort and commitment being shown was unquestionable, the conditions were not conducive to expansive back play and all too often play was not getting past third phase due to handling errors.

Although very easy to comment in hindsight, Donaghadee may rue not being more patient in their build up play, keeping the ball within their forward unit who appeared to being getting the better of their Valley counterparts. On the 64th minute a fierce tackle in the middle of the park led to Donaghadee turning over ball in the Valley half and McKenzie probed a useful ball deep into the 22, however Valley were able to clear their lines.

After the home sides dominant start to the second half Valley momentum kicked in around the 65 minute mark and after a series of scrums Valley pushed over on the 70th minute for their second try of the day from No. 8 Ryan Wilson and what appeared to be the decisive sucker punch blow. The conversion was successful to edge the men from Tyrone to a 12-7 lead.

In the last ten minutes the home crowd got further evidence of the fantastic attitude that the Dee men brought to this fixture and for this period Dee did everything other than score that much sought after try that was required due to the 5 point deficit. During these efforts two Clogher Valley players were sin binned - however with the difficult windy conditions returning, energy levels waning and a surprising lack of additional time played – the final climb was one too much for Lockhart’s Dee outfit.

As Junior Rugby continues to attract its plaudits from across the rugby fraternity this match was a fine example of the great competiveness that exists at this level. As Donaghadee fight for places at the wrong end of the table this point may prove useful however I think it’s fair to assume the Dee coaches will be looking to ‘bottle’ the effort shown in this game for their forthcoming fixtures and with a little more structure in their play this relegation fight should remain in their own hands.