ULSTER RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP 3
DONAGHADEE 52
NEWRY 0
BY GEOFF INGHAM
DONAGHADEE began their 2024/25 league campaign on Saturday when they entertained Newry at Donaldson Park.
On a day when the weather was more suited to cricket than rugby, the Dee’s line-up was a mixture of youth and experience. Coach Ray Dobson and Davy Skipp started at prop with hooker Rudi Ioasa making his competitive debut, Nathan Boyd and Sam Moore packed down in the second row with the youthful Bryn McCartney and Ryan Butler in the backs along with the experienced Sam Ingham at number eight. Matthew Pentland and Danny McBride were the half back pairing and captain Matthew Stockton and Davy Kirkpatrick formed the centre partnership.
Robbie Ingham, Aaron McKee and Harry McCracken made up the back three with Dylan Robinson and Adam Russell starting on the bench alongside Owen Roberts who was making a welcome return to rugby after a couple of seasons.
Newry kicked off and almost immediately the Dee opened their account. A strong run by Boyd allowed Pentland to kick behind the Newry defence and Robbie Ingham showed everyone a clean pair of heels before a kind bounce helped him to gather the ball and sprint over to touch down under the posts. McBride converted to give Dee a 7-0 lead.
This gave the hosts the confidence to play attacking rugby and on the 16-minute mark some great offloading by Sam Ingham and McCracken set up McKee to force his way over in the corner. McBride successfully converted to double Dee’s lead.
A rare Newry attack took them close to the Dee’s line but a good defensive set eventually resulted in a turnover for the Dee and the danger was averted. A couple of minutes later great interplay between Stockton and McCracken saw Stockton break free to score under the posts. McCracken was enjoying his game at full-back, playing his part in the majority of Dee’s attacks. He managed to get his name on the scoresheet after 26 minutes when he glided past a couple of Newry defenders to score.
McBride made it four from four conversions to push the score to 28-0. As the half came to a close it was the forwards’ turn to shine and an excellent offload from Ioasa allowed McCartney to make good ground before Skipp barged his way through and managed to reach the whitewash with his outstretched arm. This time the conversion was just wide to leave the half-time score at 33-0.
The first ten minutes of the second half saw Dee go slightly off the boil, squandering a couple of scoring chances. However, it was that man McCracken again who beat the last defender to score out wide. To Newry’s credit they did not let their heads drop and continued to push for a score, even when they were reduced to 14 men due to injury.
This forced the Dee to concentrate on their defence and on the hour it was Robinson who thwarted an attack by winning the ball on the ground. That allowed the backs to exploit the extra man and Robbie Ingham set McCracken free to run from his own half and score his hat-trick. Fifteen minutes later it was déjà vu when the Dee soaked up pressure, turned over possession and McCracken ran the length of the field to score his fourth try of the day for a full-time score of 52-0.
Among a number of good performances, this week’s man of the match went to Harry McCracken for his outstanding contribution. The Dee will face a tougher challenge next when they travel to Glynn to take on a strong Larne team on Saturday (2.30pm).
