Last Saturday Donaghadee hosted Bangor in the Rodney Gray Cup which would be the last warm up game for both teams before the start of the new season’s league action. Although these two teams have met frequently in recent seasons this was the first in which Donaghadee would have been considered favourites to win, if only for their superior league status.
It was however the visitors who had the better of the first couple of minutes when they enjoyed early possession in the Donaghdee 22. However Donaghadee’s defence absorbed this early Bangor pressure and as Paul Blewitt cleared the Donaghdee’s line this short flurry was to be the last time Bangor spent any time in the opposition half as Donaghadee went on to dominate the first half territory and possession.
The first points of the afternoon were scored by Donaghadee’s Ricardo Santos who successfully kicked a penalty after consistent Bangor infringement after 5 minutes played.
From the resulting re start Donaghadee’s prop forward Chris Schofield went on a trademark speed walk down the left flank and initiated some neat Donaghadee interplay involving David Thompson, Chris Hamilton and Ali Lockhart. This pressure was rewarded with another successful penalty from Santos giving Dee a 6-0 lead.
The Donaghdee pack where looking particularly strong in the opening period of the game and only some sound defence from the visitors kept them from crossing the try line. After ten minutes camped in the Bangor half without reward Lockhart spotted Santos lurking in the drop goal position and used him to make the scores 9-0.
On the 25th minute Bangor’s second row Richard Corbett was sin binned. Within one minute Donaghadee scored the first try of the day when, after powerful surges for the line by both Thompson and Kalave Aualiitia, Lockhart continued his bright start to the game by cleverly offloading the ball to the oncoming Richard Miller with a neat reverse pass, whose angle of attack and pace made him impossible to stop at close range. The subsequent conversion drifted wide of the upright to make the score 14-0
Although Bangor started to enjoy more possession in the closing stages of the first half they were unable and never looked likely to break down an organised, disciplined and committed Donaghadee defence. In frustration Bangor began to probe balls in behind the Dee back line but these were fielded confidently by Billy Allen and Lockhart whose clever kicking out of hand relieved Bangor pressure.
Five minutes before half time Bangor put their first points on the board with a penalty from Jason Morgan.
Half time Donaghadee 14 Bangor 3
Donaghadee put immediate pressure on the Bangor line in the second half from a blind side move that saw Allen stretch his legs and put an intelligent kick deep into the Bangor 22. From the resulting Bangor effort to clear their lines Dee where awarded a penalty which Santos slotted over to stretch Donaghadee’s lead to 17-3.
Donaghadee were dominant in set piece play and crafted a well worked second try when Thompson seized position and with the help of his pack went crashing over the Bangor line. Scored tight on the clubhouse touch line club stalwart Thompson enjoyed the warm applause of the home supporters as he made his way back to the restart. The subsequent conversion attempt was unsuccessful.
On the 65th minute Donaghadee’s Kyle Morrow took a terrific restart catch and attacked the Bangor defence with purpose before intelligently offloading to Lockhart who fed the supporting Rory Garnham. The speedy winger who seemed to be playing with renewed confidence and keen to beat his opposite man at every opportunity was stopped just short of the line, however excellent support play by Chris Hamilton secured the ball to allow Kenny McCombe to score the third Donaghadee try of the day. Santos scored the conversion to give Dee a 29-3 lead.
The final points of the day came with five minutes to go when livewire Lockhart tested the Bangor blindside and fed the ball to Garnham who bounced off three would be tacklers to score in the corner. The resulting conversion was unsuccessful which give Donaghdee a 34-3 win.
Although this was a fantastic win for the men in green and red against their seaside neighbours it is testament to the ambition and maturity at the local club that this was primarily a warm up game for a season that will have much bigger challenges ahead.
However the manner in which Donaghadee won must give both players and coaches the confidence that the squad is in good shape for the home visit of Portadown this Saturday.
Scoops Man of the Match:
I can only hope this part of reporting gets easier during the season as Last Saturday was really a team effort however in a performance that was epitomised by his support play to Rory Garnam in the 65th minute that led to Dee’s third try – this week’s man of the match goes to Chris Hamilton.
1st Xv vs. Bangor
Billy Allen, Ricardo Santos (Ian Martindale),Andrew Findlater (Nigel Barker),Bobby Harpur,Rory Garnham,Paul Blewitt,Alistair Lockhart,Chris Schofield,Gareth Gordon,Chris Good, Kalave Aualiitia,David Thompson (Kyle Morrow),Paul Hamilton(Kenny McCombe),Chris Hamilton,Richard Miller
