Fighting Dee lose narrowly at Portadown (by Jonathan Martindale)
After the excitement of the All Ireland Junior Cup draw in midweek that offered Donaghadee a home draw against Dundalk in late October, focus switched to league action on Saturday for Donaghadee’s first away action of the campaign to play Portadown.
In stark contrast to the excellent conditions for the curtain raiser against Dromore the wet conditions at Chambers Park were to play their part in a scrappy game of rugby.
Portadown started the game with intent and dominated possession, immediately occupying territory deep in Donaghadee’s half. Although the home sides playing personnel had seen a number of changes since last year’s league winning team, the strong forward rolling maul game plan was functioning as effectively as ever against a Donaghadee pack that itself had three players making their first league starts.
Donaghadee were able to withstand this early pressure and whilst the powerful Portadown pack were making surges forward all too easily the defense held strong when it mattered most.
There were few clear opportunities for either side in the opening quarter of the game and Donaghadee’s performance grew in confidence during the half with the impressive Max Montgomery starting to impose himself on the game. Donaghadee came closest to the first points of the game in the 25th minute when Montgomery broke through a number of tackles deep in the Portadown 22 however after a successful offload the ball was spilled close to the line.
After a series of phases close to the Donaghadee line Portadown were awarded a penalty on the 31st minute which they opted to kick into touch and from the resulting line out powered their way over the try line for the first points of the day. The difficult conversion was successful to give the home side a 7-0 lead.
Although opportunities to play expansive rugby were limited it was via this route that Donaghadee were most dangerous and through a typically scrappy phase of play Rory Garnham collected the ball in the middle of the pitch and after a forceful surge into the Portadown half fed a good pass to Nigel Barker who had the line in sight however there were a number of covering blue shirts who were able to bundle Barker into touch just short of thr line.
On the 37th minute Portadown were awarded a penalty which they successfully kicked to give them a commanding 10 – 3 lead, given the difficult conditions.
Donaghadee however got on the score sheet on the stroke of half time when they secured line-out ball in Portadown’s half. The ball was fed to out-half McKenzie who although not short on time, produced a sublime connection to drop goal between the uprights.
Half Time Portadown 10 Donaghadee 3
Donaghadee’s set piece play saw a notable improvement in the second period of the play, much of this down to the introduction of Chris Good at half time. As a result the Dee looked like the more likely of the two teams to add to the first half scores.
It was not however until the 60th minute that Donaghadee were able to turn their dominant in possession into territorial advantage with the young enthusiastic members of the pack visibly growing in confidence as the game progressed under the stewardship of Gareth Gordon who was having an excellent outing in the loose.
After a ten minute period of dominance by Donaghadee and a number of penalties conceded by Portadown McKenzie opted to kick one of these penalties deep into the Portadown 22.
In a game of few opportunities it was clear that it was now or never for the visitors and after being largely dominated in the first half there was a sense from the travelling support that a score from Donaghadee that could level scores was fully deserved.
The phase of play that followed saw no fewer than 7 scrummages fed from the Dee side and two yellow cards to Portadown players for infringements during this series of scrums.
After the second of these sin binning’s it seemed likely that any further infringements would result in the awarding of a penalty try – this we will never know as Porrtadown managed to win this particular scrum against the head and cleared downfield.
Although Donaghadee did manufacturer one final scoring opportunity late in the game when Montgomery, McKenzie, Barker and Garnham combined well from deep there was enough Portadown cover to protect their first half lead.
A losing point it was to be for Donaghadee’s away efforts and although not a cohesive enough performance to have won this game coaches McKenzie and Hennessey will have left Chambers Park disappointed that during their final ¼ dominance they were not able to add to the first half points.
There will however be a number of positives to extract from this performance to take into the next encounter at home to Cooke in two weeks’ time.
Scoops Man of the Match – Alistair Lockhart – Lockhart produced a mature performance at scrum half operating at times like an additional forward at breakdowns in the scrap to secure ball for his backline.
This week
All four qualifiers for the All Ireland Junior Cup are excused taking part in the Millar McCall Wylie Ulster Junior Cup First Round so the 1st XV have a weekend off. The 2nd XV open their league campaign with a home game against Ballymoney which will the first outing for the new management tam of Kyle Morrow (Captain), John West (Coach) and Philip Ellis (Manager). After their narrow dearest against Academy last weekend Mark Mitchell’s 3rd XV travel to Malone. Both games lick off at 2:30pm and all support would be most welcome.
Ulster Bank All Ireland Junior Cup
As referred to in the 1st XV match report the Dee have been drawn at home to Dundalk in the First Round of this year’s All Ireland Junior Cup. As the Dee were drawn away in both the First Round and the Quarter Final last season this will be their first home game in the competition and, as such, maybe represents the most prestigious competitive game at Donaldson Park in the Club’s 128 year history. The game is scheduled for Saturday 26th October 2013 with a 2:30pm kick-off and details of plans for the day will appear here as the big day approaches.
Subscriptions
All members are reminded that subscriptions are now due. Please contact either Paul Blewitt or Chris Good or visit the Club Website for details at http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/donaghadeerugbyclub/
