DEE TRIUMPH IN POWERADE TOWNS CUP SEMI-FINAL
Donaghadee travelled to Ballynahinch on Saturday in the semi final of the prestigious Towns Cup competition. Ballynahinch 2nd XV are the current holders of the Junior Cup and overcome a stern test against Bangor in the previous round.
Donaghadee were first to put points on the board when Nigel Barker struck a well taken penalty in the 4th minute. Barker had an opportunity to extend the visitors lead in the 7th minute after another spell of Donaghadee dominance however this effort was pushed narrowly wide.
In the 11th minute ‘Hinch got the first opportunity to spread the ball along their backline and only a knock on from the left winger brought a dangerous attack to an end – an early sign however to the Dee of the effectiveness of the young backline.
After this attack from the home side it was Donaghadee who totally dominated proceedings. The physicality of the Dee attacking efforts stirred on a strong away support to create a Donaldson park atmosphere at times.
The tenacious Alastair Lockhart led by example and was not short of ball carrying options in Cooke, Montgomery, Hamilton, Hennessey Good and company, each of which successfully punched holes in the Hinch defence. Lockhart was orchestrating this game at his pace and got quick ball to his support runners and when space opened up, the backline was able to break the gain line with both Bill Allen and Adam Alexander threatening in the first quarter.
In the 16th minute Barker attempted a drop goal but the swirling wind pushed it narrowly wide.
Dee continued to pressure the Hinch line and in the 20th minute wing forward Chris Hamilton charged down and collected a clearance kick and surged towards the try line. He was stopped just short however Richard Martindale pounced and secured the loose ball to allow the Dee pressure to continue. From the resulting scrum Donaghadee formed a rolling maul and the red and green jerseys stormed across the line for the first try of the day – David Murray the man to touch down.
At any level of rugby football if one team is dominating set piece line outs and scrums it is more than likely they will dominate possession and in turn territory and Donaghadee were doing exactly this to Hinch last Saturday.
On the 25th minute the Hinch inside centre was sin binned reducing them to fourteen men for a ten minute period. Donaghadee were however not able to take full advantage of this and as the half progressed into the final stages they lost some of the structure that they had shown earlier in the half.
Indeed in the 36th minute Hinch scored their first points of the game through a penalty effort after Dee failed to clear their line.
Three minutes before half time Dee were reduced to fourteen men with the influential Max Montgomery being penalized at the breakdown.
Half Time Ballynahinch 3 – Donaghadee 8
Donaghadee started the second half on the back foot. The game had developed into a typical semi final encounter and with both teams only 40 minutes away from playing at the newly refurbished home of Ulster Rugby the stakes were high.
The home side kicked their second successful penalty on the 46th minute to reduce Donaghadee’s lead to a slender two point one.
With the return of fifteen men however Donaghadee were able to regain a foothold of this game again and after multiple phases of play deep in the Hinch 22” Donaghadee’s second try was manufactured by Lockhart who produced a neat little offload to the oncoming Martindale who powered over the line to rapturous applause from the Dee support.
Barker kicked the conversion to offer Dee a 15 – 6 lead.
Donaghadee took full advantage of their substitute bench in the second period introducing quality options with fresh legs.
The opportunities the Dee team were creating did not come easily and it was effective protection of the ball at the breakdown from the forward pack that allowed Lockhart to provide the quick ball that kept HInch on the back foot.
On the 62nd minute Dee had an opportunity to extend their lead and go another step towards securing their place in the Easter Monday final. McKenzie received the ball just inside the Hinch 22” and spotted an overlap on the left hand side of the pitch. He floated an excellent pass to find Alexander who was unable to offload to the ball to the supporting Garnham and was stopped just short of the line.
Donaghadee got their third try however in the 67th minute and after fierce defence from ‘Hinch Max Montgomery picked the ball up from the base of the scrum and his direct attack went pretty much unchallenged to cross for the all important try. Barker converted to give Dee a 16 point advantage.
The final stages of the game saw Hinch enjoy their share of possession however given the score line they were forced to keep ball in hand and were trying to manufacture a scoring opportunity from deep in their own half.
The Donaghadee dominance in the first and third quarters of the game and their ability to grind down a steely defence and score when enjoying these dominant spells meant that the away supporters could enjoy the final ten minutes of the game dreaming of a second piece of silverware being brought back to Donaldson Park in recent years.
Full Time Ballynahinch 6 Donaghadee 22
In the Club’s only other game at the weekend the 3rd XV lost 48-18 at Newforge to a strong PSNI II side.
THIS WEEK
The 1st XV travel to Eton Park for a Conference League fixture against Ballymena II on Saturday and the 2nd XV welcome near neighbours Ards III to Donaldson park for a league game – both games kick-off at 2:30pm. The 3rd have no scheduled game.
POWERADE TOWNS CUP FINAL
After last Saturday’s Semi-Final win plans are already afoot for the Final which will take place on Easter Monday 21st April 2014 at the new Ravenhill stadium which is only fully opened this weekend for Ulster’s Heineken Cup Quarter-Final against Saracens. A grand day out awaits then for players and supporters alike and – with the opposition being Clogher Valley making their fourth appearance in the final tie of the competition in five years – huge support is expected for both Clubs. At the time of going to press the kick-off time has not yet been confirmed as the game may be moved from it’s traditional 2:30pm slot to an evening start. As soon as kick-off time is known it will appear here, on the Club’s website and Facebook sites. Coaches will be available leaving from the Club together with a host of pre & post match festivities – details of which will be finalised once kick-off time is confirmed. Congratulations then to Captain Alastair Lockhart, Coaches Paul McKenzie, Stuart Hennessey, John West, Manager Peter Matthews, Physio Niall Moraghan and their 1st XV squad who have taken the Dee to their second premier final at Ulster Rugby HQ in three years.
