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Junior Cup (Round 1): Donaghadee 28 - 9 Rainey (02/09/00)

"NOT A RAINEY DAY AT DONAGHADEE

From the first moment of this Junior Cup encounter when Donaghadee received the Rainey kick-off until the fifteenth minute, Donaghadee virtually did not get a proper touch of the ball.  

This was not their fault.  Rainey simply got the ball and kept possession of it.  What was possibly significant was that for all the possession Rainey enjoyed they were only able to gain three points from a penalty goal.

When Donaghadee finally did get the ball Craig Simmonds and Matt Turner between them took it upfield immediately with long well-placed kicks.  When the referee awarded a penalty to Donaghadee after some excellent running by their backs, Craig showed his speed of thought and action by taking a quick tap with real purpose and going under the Rainey posts for a converted try.  The kicker, Andy Monson, added to his tally by converting a penalty with a well-judged in-off the upright shortly afterwards to make the score 10-3.

From their pre-match demeanor and some supporters' remarks it appeared that the men from Magherafelt had somehow imagined that the contest at Donaghadee would be an easy one.  Their start had seemed to confirm this for them, but suddenly they were a disconcerting seven points down.  They had another worry too.  One of their props had gone down with an ankle injury after only a few minutes and although he tried to carry on, he was forced to ask for attention a few more times before he and the Rainey contingent were forced to bow to the inevitable and substitute him.

Rainey returned to the fray with some vigorous hard work to take the play to the Dee line.  A technical offence gave Rainey the opportunity to gain three points back, a chance which they did not miss.  This time Donaghadee's forwards drove the ball upfield, rather than having it kicked for them.  Prominent in the charge were Aaron Martin, Scott English and recently arrived captain, Matt Duff.  An over-eager Rainey hand in the last ruck of this drive presented Andy Monson with another kick at goal and he presented Donaghadee with another three points.

Amost immediately Rainey transgressed again and Donaghadee were given another penalty in front of the posts.  Where the kick was awarded seemed inoccuous enough, and when Duffer took it quickly and most of the Rainey forwards enveloped him  it looked even more so.  To the surprise of almost everyone but the crash-mat himself, Matt suddenly emerged from the melee and dived, rather dramatically, under the posts to land in Craig's previous score marks.  Another successful kick by Monson now took the score to an impressive 20-6 to Donaghadee.

Rainey began the second half determined as they now had more of the slight breeze and felt sure they would soon catch up the 14-point margin.  They did manage three of them, but the stories of the second half were the fully-committed tackling of the Donaghadee men and the series of chats the referee was having with Will Hopes.  Will's problem with the ref was that he felt he was arriving at the tackle situation, remaining on his feet and trying to pick up the ball which should of course have been made available for exactly that.  He was then, according to the player, being pushed over the top of the tackled player by his own men arriving at was now almost a ruck.  At exactly 3.36pm, after three chats with him and his captain, the referee finally cautioned Will and gave him the dubious honour of being the first Donaghadee player ever to have been sent to the sin-bin.

Now with fourteen men, Donaghadee had to work very hard to hold Rainey's attacks.  Most of the ten-minute period was spent close to the Donaghadee line, but when the ref at last allowed Hopesy back on the field the line was still intact - a tribute to the determination and heart of the home players.

Restored to full strength, Donaghadee then had a go at Rainey.  From a break-down about twenty-five metres from the Rainey line and out on the right, Craig made another of his penetrating breaks.  Although he was stopped by a despairing tackle almost on the goal line, Craig managed to get the ball to his half-back partner, Matt Turner, who was able to cross for another, and a decisive try.  Unfortunately in doing so he hurt his knee sufficiently to warrant leaving the contest for the remaining few minutes.  Paul Blewitt moved from the centre to replace Matt and David McCullough came on to play centre.

Paul had not looked happy in his unaccustomed position, but not long after his move to his more comfortable position he took an awkward ball and showed his abilities by immediately hoicking up an excellent drop goal by means of his trusty 'Freddy' mercurial left boot!  Rainey had managed a consolation penalty goal just a few moments earlier, but this last kick sealed the game 28 points to 9.

Now that the team is beginning to come together Donaghadee's prospects are beginning to look rosier.  This is not to put the blink on by being over-confident about the team's strength.  There are still weaknesses and problem areas identified by the coaches.  These will be addressed over the next few training nights, so it is very important that as many First-team squad players as possible need to attend on Monday and Wednesday nights.  As a reminder maybe it should be said that the Donaghadee club is now in the healthy position of having a number of strong candidates vying for every position, which of course is as it should be.