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League Match: Carrick 17 - 24 Donaghadee (16/10/99)

"DONAGHADEE TOO GOOD FOR CARRICK

This match last Saturday was played in excellent rugby conditions on a lushly green pitch at Carrickfergus. For the first ten minutes or so, both teams tested each other out. The play switched from end to end, with first the home side looking better and then the visitors. In the space of a couple of minutes Donaghadee went six-nil up due to Carrick being penalised for over-eagerness,and being duly punished by Paul Blewitt's boot.

Donaghadee started to get into their now-natural running game, but with twenty minutes on the clock Jeff Allen pulled up from full speed with what looked ominously like a torn hamstring. He did play on after attention but spent the remainder of the match limping on the wing.

From a line-out about thirty metres out from the Carrick line, Donaghadee set up a rolling maul. This was beautifully controlled and moved very quickly and venomously towards the line, where the inevitable Matt Duff secured the try. Donaghadee now were enjoying their best spell of the game. The backs were making the most of good forward possession with penetrative running. This eventually led to another costly mistake by Carrick and a successful kick by Paul Blewitt made the score 14-0 to Donaghadee just before half-time.

Just after the re-start Donaghadee themselves were guilty of being offside and the Carrick kicker put his side on the scoreboard with a little help from one of the uprights. Shortly afterwards Donaghadee took play up to the Carrick "22" where Nigel Forsythe, who was having a storming game, made a thrilling run off the back of a ruck, fed Philip McNamara, who timed his pass to Blewitt to perfection. Paul made just sufficient of a half-break and gave a sweet pass to David McMinn arriving at pace. David was unstoppable and went in under the posts to leave a conversion kick little more than a formality.

Carrick slowly worked their way back into Donaghadee territory, helped to a large extent by some poor discipline and concentration among the Donaghadee players, who looked like they thought the hard work had now been done. About twenty metres out they managed to concede a free kick to Carrick. The home captain elected to run this, and to the dismay of all the Dee players and supporters they seemed to penetrate the defence with ease to score near the posts. In spite of this error the scoreline of 21-10 in the Dee's favour and the overall impression of the hour already played made Carrick still look the poorer side, but the alarm bell had surely been well and truly rung.

Donaghadee still had not completely woken up and almost immediately they nearly conceded another score. Desperation defence led Donaghadee to give away a penalty. Instead of just taking the referee's award, Carrick seemed to want to exact their own penalty and a short fracas ensued. The referee quite rightly settled things down and reversed the penalty giving Donaghadee a most welcome relieving penalty.

The relief soon turned to reward after Donaghadee worked their way back into the Carrick half. From a scrum about twenty metres out in the middle of the park the ball went to Blewitt who faked right, switched left and dropped a skilful goal. What should have been a final score of 24-10 now depended upon Donaghadee playing tight and steady for the remaining minutes.

The re-start kick was well received and Donaghadee took the play almost to their opponent's' line, where everyone assumed they would stay for the duration. But like the characters in some awful Greek tragedy, they were pushed back and back and back almost to their own goal line by a long series of penalties. From the last one it was like watching a re-run of Carrick's earlier effort. From the same place, and with the same move, they ran right through the Donaghadee defence with as little resistance as before, although this time it was the carrick Number 8 who actually scored instead of the lock. As the ball went over the bar to make the score 24-17 to Donaghadee, the referee blew his whistle for no-side.

For a good part of the game Donaghadee played very well in this match, running well, both individually and together, tackling and grafting. They now have the look of a team which knows very well how to win. But they also know that this ability and purpose must be there for the entire eighty minutes. Against some of the weaker opposition Donaghadee have seen off in recent weeks the odd lapse in concentration might have gone unpunished, but Carrick are a stronger side than that. Although realistically they knew they were beaten, to their credit Carrick kept at it right to the end. What Donaghadee will have taken from this match is that they will never again finish a game behind their own line."