’Dee book a trip to the Kingspan

DONAGHADEE are bound for the Kingspan Stadium in eight weeks time after seeing off Strabane at Donaldson Park on Saturday to reach the final of the Gordon West Cup.
Ryan Butler returned from injury in the home side’s only change to their starting line-up and Carter Long made his first appearance of the season on the bench. The league encounter earlier in the season between these two sides produced a thrilling draw, so the ’Dee knew they would have to perform well if they were to book their ticket to the final.
The morning drizzle had ensured that the previous day’s frost had gone but the moist conditions were going to be a challenge for both teams.
Once the teams had observed a minute’s silence in memory of past Donaghadee chairman Ken Ross, the hosts got the game underway with the elements in their favour. After a tense first 10 minutes, the first opportunity for points fell to Strabane when the ’Dee were penalised for offside, however, the penalty attempt fell just short of the posts.
Donaghadee’s defence was tested on several occasions but held firm, with Matthew Stockton keeping the Strabane playmaker under control. A couple of turnovers by Davy Kirkpatrick also relieved the pressure. Handling errors from both teams caused a plethora of scrums but the ’Dee had the upper hand in this area throughout the game.
The deadlock was eventually broken on the half-hour mark when Rudi Ioasa forced his way over after several drives by the ’Dee forwards. Matthew Pentland was successful with the difficult conversion to give the hosts a 7-0 lead.
Five minutes later it was Strabane’s turn when they took advantage of a knock-on to score in the corner. The conversion was missed to leave the ’Dee with a two-point advantage. On the stroke of half-time Donaghadee found themselves deep inside the Strabane 22 and after several drives it was Nathan Boyd who managed to touch down. Pentland was successful again with the conversion to give the ’Dee a 14-5 lead at half-time.
The home side started the second half well and after five minutes went further ahead. Sam Ingham made a break before passing to Kirkpatrick, who beat his opposite number and then offloaded to Boyd who forced his way over in the corner. The conversion was missed but the ’Dee now led 19-5.
At this stage Strabane were looking slightly discombobulated as they were unable to make any headway against the robust ’Dee defence, with every man making their tackles count. In fact, it was the locals who crossed the whitewash next after a good spell of pressure. A typical storming run from Ray Dobson and another from Ioasa brought play into the Strabane 22. From the next ruck Pentland decided to pass to Stockton on the blindside and the captain crashed over to score to make it 24-5.
In the last few minutes the ’Dee won a penalty in front of the posts and Pentland converted to make the final score 27-5.
Donaghadee will contest the final against either Ormagh seconds or Dungannon seconds at the Kingspan Stadium on March 15, which promises to be a great day out for both players and supporters alike.
This was probably the ’Dee’s best performance of the season so far, especially from their defence which was excellent throughout. Any one of the players could have been a contender for man of the match. Captain, Matthew Stockton, marshalled his backline superbly and Sam Ingham led from the front all day, however the award this week went to Nathan Boyd for his efforts in defence and attack, including his brace of tries.