Donaghadee began their 24/25 league campaign on Saturday when they entertained Newry at Donaldson Park. On a day when the weather was more suited to cricket rather 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 back row along with the experienced Sam Ingham at No 8. Matthew Pentland and Danny McBride made up 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. Dylan Robinson and Adam Russell started 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. Robbie Ingham showed everyone a clean pair of heels and 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 Dee 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 fullback, 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 33-0 to the Dee.

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. This allowed the backs to exploit the extra man and Robbie Ingham set McCracken free to run from his own half to score his hatrick. 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 to leave the full-time score 52-0 to the Dee.

So a successful start for the Dee with lots of positives. A lot of good performances but no doubt that man of the match this week goes to Harry McCracken for his outstanding contribution.

Next week the Dee will face a tougher challenge when they travel to Glyn to take on a strong Larne team.

Link to Ian Adamson's photos - https://www.facebook.com/share/p/SHqLcNEvZn7EWRDm/