Conference League: v Ballynahinch 2nd XV (A)

Ballynahinch 2nd XV 53-8 Donaghadee 1st XV (Conference League)

Last Saturday Donaghadee’s first team had a break from Qualifying League Two games, but only to play in the new Conference League. Confused? Join the club. This strange competition sees QL2 clubs like Donaghadee play the Second XVs of Ulster’s senior clubs – but only two of them in the season. Win, lose or draw the QL2 club gains no league points.

In the event it was a much-changed fifteen from the previous week, nine of them if one counts the positional changes, that travelled to Ballymacarn Park to play Ballynahinch last Saturday. During the Friday and the Saturday morning there was much speculation about the game’s prospects on account of the widespread icy-cold weather and forecasts of snow. Upon arrival the Donaghadee party were delighted to find windless conditions and a bright, if a bit feeble, sun.

The first ten to fifteen minutes were not the most riveting spectacle of rugby football. The players in Donaghadee’s much-altered squad found it difficult to combine into a viable team, and this certainly hampered their efforts in defence and attack. In spite of the excellent winter conditions the game was not very exciting. It must be said that all of the Dee men were giving their best as individuals, even if co-ordination was often difficult to see. What was more of a surprise was that the reserve team of an All-Ireland League II club, and one that is soon to play in Ulster’s Junior Cup Final began with so few ideas.

After a few poorly mounted Ballynahinch attacks, and little if any threat from Donaghadee, the visitors were doing their best to put together a play sharp enough to find any gaps in the ‘Hinch defence. Instead, their attack showed an understandable awkwardness and when the ball was right on the Ballynahinch goal-line it was almost inevitably dropped, and it was one of their players who snapped it up. In an instant they stormed the ball up-field, and did not stop until the ball was grounded over Donaghadee’s line for a 5-0 lead to the home side.

Almost as suddenly as a wizard waving a wand the true Ballynahinch Second XV now came out to play. The transformation was amazing, and devastating for the visitors. Probably it was that the ‘Hinch men had eventually realised that the team they had been researching was not the same as the one on the playing field, and that there was not as much need for caution as they had imagined.

This sudden 5-0 deficit did not help the newer Donaghadee men’s confidence, but the transformation among the home players was almost palpable. Inexorably the evidence that Donaghadee’s depleted side had not been together long enough to have a defensive system satisfactorily embedded appeared.

There were flashes of good Donaghadee work; Stuart Hutchinson, Gareth Gordon and Paul Hamilton had impressive runs through the middle, and Richard Millar ran well until held up on half-way. A careless offence by Ballynahinch gave Millar an opportunity to kick from the half-way line, but it slid narrowly wide. This disappointment was made worse when poor Donaghadee defence allowed in a Ballynahinch try that was quickly converted.

The half was now playing out at 12-0, but there was to be a flourish from both sides. A well co-ordinated attack by Donaghadee gave Millar a chance to go for the ‘Hinch line and he took it well to reduce the deficit to 12-5. A penalty goal to each team made the score 15-8 with only a minute or two till the break. This was Donaghadee’s best period in the game, with Bobby Harpur, Andrew Findlater and Rory Garnham featuring prominently. At what seemed later to have been the game’s turning point, they came achingly close to achieving a score that would mark this.

The forwards mounted a series of assaults on the ‘Hinch line right in front of their posts, each of which were dealt with by Ballynahinch’s resolute defence. Perhaps it was a little too resolute because the referee signalled advantage more than once during the barrage. With every Donaghadee player striving for what they knew might be the equalizing score before Donaghadee’s advantage time ran out, the ball spun loose and was booted upfield. This continued past the entire Dee defence and was chased furiously by all. This non-stop pressure from Ballynahinch brought them a welcome end-of-half reward with what effectively was a fourteen-point try. What had briefly looked like a possible seven points for Donaghadee had become seven for Ballynahinch. Instead of the briefly anticipated 15-all, it was now 22-8 at the interval.

Sport is full of such reverses, and often contests are decided upon them. In the new half Donaghadee came back for a spell, but all present could recognise that Donaghadee had had the heart knocked out of them by the body blow upon half-time. Dispirited tackling and somewhat naive defensive tactics on the part of Donaghadee and the lift of the unexpected try for Ballynahinch quickly led to two tries for the latter, one converted and one not, that led to a scoreline of 34-8. This is not what Donaghadee is used to this season, their worst result since August having been a loss to Ballymoney by two points.

Credit to Ballynahinch, they recognised that the Dee side on the day was savagely depleted and took strength from that. Donaghadee’s players still “played for the shirt” as they say, but all cohesion had gone with the ferocity of the reverse. On occasion Donaghadee’s heart took their efforts some way, with Harpur again making inroads, but when another defensive lapse allowed another home side score that took the total to 41-8. By now the Ballynahinch players’ confidence was so high that they were lining up to have a go at their opponents. Inside just a few minutes two more rampages from Ballynahinch led, almost inevitably it seemed, to two more Ballynahinch tries. Now there seemed little point in the game proceeding, and with Donaghadee’s Kyle Morrow and Rory Garnham not much more than walking wounded after collisions, there was not much left in the Donaghadee tank, and the referee decided it was time with a final score of 53-8.

Some of the late replacements to the Donaghadee team might be tempted to think that such an unusual and disappointing result is their fault, but they would be wrong. Each and every one of the replacements is fit enough and able enough to come into the first team when needed, but no team can easily absorb as many changes in one week as the Dee did last Saturday. One or two of the newer faces may well be selected this week for the Firsts. Some, hopefully many, of the missing regulars too will be fit, well and back for the Lisburn game this coming Saturday in the more crucial Qualifying League game. This will be quite a different kettle of fish.

Donaghadee’s team last Saturday: Rory Garnham, Chris McGivern, Chris Beattie, Andrew Findlater, Anthony Bunting, Paul Blewitt, Bobby Harpur: Chris Good (c), Gareth Gordon, Phil Collins, Gareth Prue, Kyle Morrow, Richard Millar, Chris Hamilton, Stuart Hutchinson and Paul Hamilton.

Seriously depleted Thirds lose 7-46

On a Saturday when the First XV of any football club is shorn of a large number of its players the ramifications down through the club increase. By the time it came to assembling a Third XV, the Team captain was really struggling to complete a team to represent the club. In the proper tradition of amateur sport, he and his assistants did not stop until they could present a full team on the field to honour their opponents Randalstown III. Some were relatively new to the club, and one or two were fairly new to the game, but they played. Randalstown may have wished for a sterner contest, but at least all thirty men had a game. Applause and congratulations all around.