DONAGHADEE SECONDS 3 – BANGOR SECONDS 8
Many of the Dee followers who could not get to Fivemiletown for the First XV’s big Qualifying League Section One game against Clogher Valley last Saturday (29 Oct) started arriving at Donaldson Park around 2.00pm to pass their afternoon watching one or both of the Bangor games. Some of them greeted one another with comments along the lines of “A hundred plus cars for Junior rugby! Who’d have thought?”
Clearly the proximity of Bangor’s Uprichard Park ground, and the fact that Bangor’s First XV had no game, must have made a small impact on the size of the crowd. Whatever the reasons were, all sixty players and the officials must have been cheered to see so many taking an interest in their games.
Donaghadee Seconds took on Bangor Twos for the second time this season, although Saturday’s game was in the Junior League. The visitors had begun with the westerly wind and some rain in their favour and their strong pack of forwards took most of the control in the early stages. It was not long before they were able to take the advantage with a fine penalty goal.
The Dee XV had been forced to take the field without a specialist scrum-half, except for Mark Cooper, whose ability to direct Donaghadee’s attack from the No. 10 position was too important for his team to move him to scrum-half. The Dee forwards competed well enough, but the transfer of any attack to employ some of their good quality backs was not as smooth as it might have been.
On the half-hour Bangor eventually forced another penalty close in, but Donaghadee’s players willed the ball to go wide and the score stayed at a slender 3-0 to the visitors. They had looked the more impressive side all along, many of them showing their coach that they clearly had First XV potential. This was demonstrated on the field and on the scoreboard almost immediately when territorial possession and some serious determination took them over their opponents’ line for what must have been a satisfying score. Minutes later another let-off from a missed penalty took the players into a welcome half-time break.
As the second half commenced with Donaghadee facing an 8-0 deficit and noticing that the rain and wind had almost dissipated, they showed that they were still going to be competitive. Bangor’s backline looked large and menacing, but it was now becoming apparent that their forwards were being denied the quality possession to release their three-quarters very often. Donaghadee’s hard and experienced men such as Gavin Prue, Phil Collins and Andrew Dunn were grafting away to keep Bangor’s possession slow and cautious. This kept the carrot of getting back on terms very visible to the home team’s players.
Donaghadee’s outside half Mark Cooper was showing a maturity beyond his years as he used every inch of the pitch to keep as much of the play as possible in Bangor’s territory. He was ably supported by his slightly-makeshift backline putting in some good tackles and making a few stirring runs with Paddy Quinn, Chris McGivern, Andrew Cash and Ryan Thompson catching the eye on occasion.
When the referee spotted a Bangor infringement thirty metres out young Cooper stepped up to the mark and took the Donaghadee deficit to a less-daunting 8-3. It was quite clear that Donaghadee’s players took encouragement from this and they pressed almost immediately. When Cooper put a testing penalty kick deep into Bangor territory and the full-back fumbled his attempted catch the Dee forwards positively rushed to form the resulting scrum. From the heel and the combined Donaghadee pressure the home side just narrowly failed to complete the try they so much deserved. Many grafted to get over the Bangor line and it was Chris McGivern who had to suffer the personal disappointment when the referee adjudged, rightly, that he had been two frustrating inches short of the try line. Stirring defence by Bangor, but a great disappointment to the Dee men.
Donaghadee were able to sustain the pressure on the Bangor line, with backs and forwards battering at the Bangor gates. But the Dee men were held out by staunch defence by Bangor and the game ended with an 8-3 win for the visitors. After the impressive start by the visitors such a close finish had looked beyond the Dee men. They deserved great credit for their application and effort.
Donaghadee Seconds’ team: Ryan Willis, Phil McCaughey, Phil Collins, Andy Molineaux, Andrew Dunn, Gavin Prue, Sandy Forster, Jordan Allingham; Paddy Quinn, Mark Cooper, Andrew Cash (c), Gareth Martin, Chris McGivern, Ryan Thompson, Anthony Bunting.
DONAGHADEE THIRDS 0 – BANGOR THIRDS 41
On the adjacent “wee” pitch Donaghadee were playing Bangor Thirds. With the disadvantage of playing up the slope and against a strong-looking Bangor Thirds XV it was no surprise when half-time showed the hosts 18-0 down. Perhaps the second period would restore a balance.
So relatively strong was the Bangor XV that even the benefits of wind and slope could not help a hard-working Donaghadee team, and the game eventually finished with a comfortable 41-0 win for the Bangor men.
Donaghadee Thirds: Philip Weston, Mark Poole, Marcus Nelson, Mark Mitchell, Ian Hamilton, Peter Gouk, Matt McGaw, Chris Cooper, Ian Rodgers, Arthur Brown, Gavin Wallace, John Wallace, Lee Monroe, Simon Woods and Ian Ritchie.
