Donaghadee welcomed Lisburn to Donaldson Park with conditions wet and windy & the pitch soft underfoot but very playable – testament to the efforts of the ground staff over the past few weeks. The home side rang the changes again with a couple of unavailabilities meaning Davy Kirkpatrick and Dicky Bailey stepped into the fray.

The Dee began strongly playing towards the town and a sustained period of pressure led to a precision Paul Blewitt pass letting Kirkpatrick split the Lisburn defence before the ensuing pass was not held and the chance was lost. Lisburn managed themselves out of their own territory and, in their first attack after eight minutes the ball was spun left after successive quick balls from second and third phase and their speedy winger crashed in at the corner to open the day’s scoring with an unconverted try. With the elements on their backs the Dee returned to attack and pressed the visitors but were unable to profit until the twenty second minute when the elusive Mark Cooper was set free and glided in for an excellent score which was converted by Andy McGrugan. Six minutes later the Lisburn full back kick for touch from deep in his own twenty-two only for the wind to catch ball and blow back towards the visitor’s line. Cooper was first to react and won the race to touch down in the far left-hand corner. This time McGrugan was unsuccessful with the conversion. With four minutes of the half remaining the Dee continued to press through the efforts of Jack Cooke and Chris Hamilton and eventually the visiting defence caved in and leaked a penalty on the twenty-two in front of the posts which McGrugan duly converted to leave the Dee with a 15-5 half-time lead.

With elements now squarely on their backs Lisburn started the second period strongly and a string of Dee errors forced them onto their own five metre line where a succession of Lisburn scrums resulted in the referee awarding them a penalty try. With the simple conversion in the bag the away side were now only three points behind and obviously buoyed by their new found confidence with ball in hand. On fifty eight minutes the Dee were comfortably repelling a succession of Lisburn attacks when what looked like an innocuous Lisburn foray into the Dee twenty two left the ball reaching there right wing who, with no little skill, stepped his opposite number before a foot slip in the remaining defence allowed him to score in the corner. The try remained unconverted but Lisburn now led by two points. Try as they might to get back into the game the Dee were undone by failing continuity and indiscipline in open play. Cooke, Hamilton, Chris Good, Gareth Gordon and Matthew Johnston all made strong runs into the opposition defence but the game was being played at halfway due to the weather conditions and the home side lacked the incision required to break the Lisburn defence. Eventually, with two minutes of normal time left to play, Lisburn were awarded a penalty on the Dee ten metre line and, with the aid of the wind, the ensuing kick split the posts to leave them five points behind. Opportunities for the Dee to draw level accrued over the next few minutes but were ultimately spurned and the referee whistled for no side leaving the Dee on the wrong side of a 20-15 score line.

The losing bonus point will be of little compensation to the Dee who never really came to terms with what was needed to come out as victors and they will reflect ruefully on a first half when they patently did not use the advantage of the prevailing weather conditions to best effect. On a positive note it was pleasing to see Cooke back on the pitch after a month out with injury and it is also a bonus to see Paul Hamilton coming off the bench to add his own brand physicality to the side. The squad will now regroup, put in some hard work on the training paddock over the incoming week and look forward to the game against old adversaries Coleraine in the North West next Saturday.