CARRICKFERGUS 1st XV 25 DONAGHADEE 1st xv 13
The Dee made the trip around Belfast Lough to meet league pacesetters Carrick on an extremely wet November afternoon. The side had lost talismanic pack leader Jack Cooke during the week with an injury picked up during training and scrum-half Chade Gelderman in similar circumstances. To compound matters skipper Nigel Barker was not yet ready to return to the field after an injury picked up against Grosvenor and centre Andy Todd was a late cry-off with a hamstring strain. Gareth Gordon assumed the captaincy reigns and the on looking Dee support knew a challenge lay ahead for the veteran hooker and his side.
Donaghadee got off to a slow start and, although their scrum and lineout were operating effectively, Carrick threatened on each occasion they entered the away side’s half of the pitch. With ten minutes played Carrick broke right and, with the Dee backline clearly defending too narrowly their right wing passed inside to a supporting teammate to open the scoring with an unconverted try. The Dee regained possession from the kick-off and drove purposefully down the pitch before Carrick infringed to allow Paul Blewitt to bring the score back to 5-3 with a well-placed penalty kick. Carrick continued to look dangerous on attack and they once again found the Dee defence wanting when quick ball was spun left only for their veteran full-back Aaron McKinney to cut a fine line and score his side’s second unconverted try of the day. Donaghadee returned to the attack with Chris Good, Gareth Deering, Richard Martindale and Matthew Johnston prominent in the forward exchanges ably supported by Chris Hamilton who was winning the back row battle on the floor. Deputising scrum-half Chris Scott was also having a positive influence on the game which allowed Blewitt to bring centres Mark Cooper and John Quigg into the game. A sustained period of Dee offence on halftime led to another penalty opportunity for Blewitt which he duly converted. With the Dee now having now closed the margin to 10-6 unfortunately the referee decided there was injury time to play and, after having taking advantage of a loose Dee restart reception they edged towards the line and squeezed over after a powerful forward drive. This time they converted to leave the half-time score 17-6 in Carrick’s favour.
With the heavy rain returning in the opening minutes of the second half Coach Graham Cloke, having already brought Matt Brown off the bench for Deering late in the first period now introduced Johnny Stewart for Martindale. Carrick were however managing the game well and only some stout defence and defensive organisation from Dee full-back Bill Allen kept the scoreboard from turning further in the home side’s favour. Sustained pressure from Carrick soon told however and they moved further ahead with three points from a penalty. With their tails up Carrick sought the bonus point try and were duly rewarded when a McKinney break resulted in a touchdown which remained unconverted to give his side a 25-6 lead. At this point the Dee faithful feared the side could be on the point of a heavy loss but fired by the return of Martindale to the fray and telling contributions up front from Tommy Scullion and the ever-improving Sam Ingham (who was deputising for Cooke) the side exerted telling pressure on Carrick which initially led to the sin-binning of one of their replacements and then a succession of penalties which allowed the Dee to approach the opposition’s line on the back of powerful running successively from Hamilton, Quigg, Cooper, Martindale and Good. The Dee gained a five-metre scrum and, after a reset, the Dee eight drove their opponents relentlessly over the line to allow Hamilton to touch down – Blewitt adding the extras. With fifteen minutes to play the Dee had returned, phoenix-like, to the fray and were now chasing, at the very least, a losing bonus point. As conditions deteriorated Scott orchestrated his forwards from the base of rucks and mauls and the returning Deering, Johnston, Martindale, Ingham and Scullion all made significant inroads and wingers Andy Cash and Andy McGrugan were brought into the game but, to their credit, the Carrick defence – although rattled on occasion – stayed firm, and though one or two half-chances arose the scoreboard remained unchanged at the final whistle.
This was always going to be a difficult ask against a side at the top of their form but an inexperienced Donaghadee team can be extremely pleased with their showing in the last half-hour of the game when the belligerence and self-belief of the side came to the fore. Good to see Cooper return to form in his first game in some weeks and impressive outings from youngsters Scott, Ingham, Scullion, Deering and Johnston ably supported by the experience & guile from the likes of Blewitt, Good, Martindale, Gordon, Hamilton, Quigg and Allen augur well for the challenges ahead. Coach Cloke, although disappointed by yesterday’s result, will look forward to the return of those denied any involvement in the game due to injury and will be buoyed by the character, aggression and pugnaciousness evident in the display. With those traits in the bank all that is needed is sustained hard work on the training paddock and the rewards will come.
