Donaghadee played UUC at Donaldson Park on Saturday with both teams going into the fixture sitting at the wrong end of the Kukri Qualifying One League Table.
Recent clashes between these two teams have seen some entertaining exchanges with Donaghadee having the upper hand on results – and this one did not disappoint.
On the 6th minute Billy Allen launched a ‘Garryowen’ that lopped horribly in the air and caused all sorts of problems in the UUC defence. If Allen’s execution was pin point Ryan Irvine’s chase was equally classy and it was his presence at the breakdown that forced UUC to concede a penalty.
Paul Blewitt duly converted to give the Dee a 3-0 lead.
UUC missed an opportunity to level scores on the 10th minute after Donaghdee were unable to clear their lines effectively.
Donaghadee continued to dominate proceedings with David Murray featuring in many of their attacks and it was Murray who broke through the UUC defence on the 17th minute and looked to have fed a scoring pass to oncoming player/coach McKenzie – however with the line in site the ball was spilled in the transfer and the opportunity was missed.
A fine McKenzie surge into the UUC half on the 19th minute led to the awarding of a Dee penalty however Blewitt’s effort went narrowly wide.
Blewitt made no mistake with two further penalty efforts in the first period before Rory Garnham came closest to scoring the first try of the day on the 33rd minute. McKenzie who became increasingly dangerous in attack as the half developed created enough space to fed centre partner Garnham whose explosive change of pace took him clear of the UUC defence only to be stopped by the covering UUC fullback Millar.
Half Time Donaghadee 9 – UUC 0
Ten minutes into the second half Chris McGivern finished off an excellent back-line move scoring in the ‘club-house corner’ after the ball was slickly transferred right across the backline.
Mark Cooper replaced Paul Blewitt on the hour mark and very quickly had an impact on the game when he jinked past his opposite number to create a scoring gap which, from close range, he fully exploited. A slick solo effort which Cooper also converted.
Although the Dee pack had a measured influence on the outcome of this game both out-half’s put in very accomplished performances that kept the visitors on the back foot, with Cooper taking over where Blewitt left off with the territorial kicking game.
The visitors continued to play their part in this game and enjoyed periods of pressure on the Donaghadee line however were unable to register a score.
In one of the final phases of play Donaghade scored their third try of the day courtesy of Ali Lockhart who picked the ball up just inside the UUC 22 and powered through a melee of players to score under the posts.
Lockhart’s effort was the result of an excellent counter attack by one of the most consistent performers of this campaign – Ryan Irvine. The young left winger collected a high ball on the left flank before bursting past a number of defenders, intelligently running into an area of support, so that Dee could regroup to secure ball for Lockhart’s fine effort.
Although all scores were registered by the backline on Saturday this was not a reflection of the key role the young forward pack had on this game.
Adam Torrens enjoyed another very sound outing playing prop forward. Second rows Blair and Adams had the upper hand of their UUC counterparts and were impactful ball carriers throughout the 80 minutes with Peter Stevenson’s tireless workload ensuring that any 50/50 ball was falling for the home side more often than not.
Fulltime Donaghadee 26 – UUC 0
An important home league win for Donaghadee as they now change their focus to the Junior Cup Quarter Final away to Ballymoney this weekend. After an indifferent period of results coaches McKenzie and Hennessey will take much from this disciplined performance on Saturday and particularly their ability to keep a ‘clean sheet’ against an offensive minded UUC outfit.
Scoops Man of Match – Stephen Adams