Match report by Geoff Ingham

Donaghadee 2s entertained City of Armagh 4s on Saturday at Donaldson Park in the first round of the McCambley Cup. Due to the moist conditions the game had to be played on the bottom pitch and Armagh kicked off with the Dee playing up the slope. The Dee enjoyed most of the possession in the first ten minutes but found it hard to make much progress due to stout defending by Armagh and some handling errors as the players tried to hold on to the ball in the greasy conditions. However, they eventually made their way into the Armagh 22 and after several phases of play it was prop Jacob Clarke who forced his way over the line. Owen Baillie was successful with the conversion to give the Dee a 7-0 advantage. Five minutes later another member of the front row union, Dylan Robinson spun out of a couple of tackles to score in the corner. The Dee were then disrupted when they lost a couple of players due to injury but they were soon back in control and James Small was first to pounce on a loose ball and dived over to score. A couple of minutes later Small showed his defensive skills with an excellent try saving tackle on the Armagh winger as he looked certain to score. The half came to a close just after the Dee scored their fourth try when right winger Andy Wright finished off a fine move to score in the corner. Baillie kicked the difficult conversion to leave the half time score 26-0. The Dee’s dominance continued in the second half, especially at scrum time where Morgan McCartney showed off his hooking prowess by claiming several strikes against the head. Strong running by the McCracken brothers helped the Dee make ground and it was elder brother Andy who broke through a couple of tackles to score the fifth try. Ten minutes later it was captain Garry Smith’s turn to cross the line in the bottom corner. To their credit, Armagh kept trying to play rugby and on several occasions they threatened the Dee’s line, but good defence by the Dee kept them at bay. The Dee’s next try came from one of Armagh’s attacks as Adam Russell intercepted a pass and ran from his own half to touch down. Armagh’s doggedness eventually paid off when their centre broke through the Dee’s defensive line to score by the posts. The final try for the Dee saw James Small score his second of the day and Baillie converted to make the final score 50-7 to the Dee and they go into the hat for the second round draw.