City of Derry captain Davy Graham praised after hat trick heroics against Dromore
City of Derry 45
Dromore 15
Richard McCarter paid tribute to captain Davy Graham after his hat trick helped City of Derry to a high-scoring win against Dromore.
The centre was in commanding form on Saturday as he led by example, helping his team come from behind twice against a good opponent, before the home side really pulled away to an impressive victory in the second half.
Graham, with a try against Connemara in the Irish Junior Cup and another against Queens in the Junior Cup, really picked the perfect day to get his first league scores of the season, with his treble added to by Stephen Corr, Simon Logue and Killene Thorton, as Derry notched up another bonus point win.
“He’s really stepped up to the captaincy role this year,” McCarter acknowledged afterwards. “His leadership capabilities have really improved and are impressive. We really missed him the three weeks he was out with concussion, in attack and defence. Sometimes you don’t realise how good somebody is until you’re missing them. He’s stepped up and scored a few tries which is excellent, but he made a lot of other big contributions as well.”
Big numbers are what City of Derry are all about this season, with Saturday’s result meaning it’s now five home league wins from five games, with an average of 37 points per victory at Judges Road. The green and blacks have scored 26 tries in those five games and they have settled comfortably into the top four of Ulster Championship One as a result.
Slow start
McCarter has had concerns about his team’s inability to close out games comfortably this season, and while ultimately, that didn’t prove to be a problem on Saturday, the Head Coach couldn’t have been happy with his team’s start here.
They were a score down after just four minutes of play on Saturday, and under the cosh very quickly. Pushed back right to the line, it looked as if Derry were holding firm until Stewart kicked out wide to the left where Dillon was standing free and he touched down in the corner.
A frustrating spell followed for Derry, who dominated possession but couldn’t break through as they misplaced key passes in good areas. Having lost twice to Dromore last season, it was shaping up to be a real battle for the home side, but they finally made their breakthrough on 18 minutes, with another massive moment from Stephen Corr, who would not be stopped despite the attention of three opponents as he carried everyone and everything over the line to score. With the conversion from Alex McDonnell, Derry led for the first time, 7-5.
Dromore briefly regained the lead with a penalty from J. Dillon, but the response was emphatic from Derry. It looked as if a real chance had gone for Simon Logue but what looked like a loose pass turned into a key one as David Lapsley took possession and found Killene Thorton 15 metres from the goal-line. Thorton, who had men over, waited until just the right moment to release Graham, who scored the first of his three to leave Derry 14-8 ahead at the break.
Half Time 14-8
Whatever was said at half time had the desired result for McCarter and Derry as the home side scored twice in the first five minutes of the second half to really put this game beyond Dromore. The Dromore players let their guard down for just a second on the referee’s whistle but Simon Logue was switched on to the opportunity and a quick penalty saw him race away from his own half all the way to score, with no Dromore player capable of catching him.
The visitors were still reeling from that when Derry scored again, and this time it was a piece of magic from McDonnell which created the opportunity, a brilliant dummy 10 metres out creating space which he exploited before setting up Graham to ensure the bonus point was Derry’s.
The Dromore frustration was evident and heir heads dropped, with J. Dillon reminding his team mates in a vocal and enunciated way that there was still half an hour to play. Those words had some effect as Dromore pulled a score back with 22 minutes to play with Dillon himself converting to leave it 28-15.
With Derry inviting their opponents back into games in the latter stages all season, there was a touch of anxiety at this stage, with a penalty from McDonnell important as if took Derry beyond a two-try lead with 15 minutes on the clock.
But there was no need to worry, as Derry comminated the closing stages, scoring two more tries to earn their biggest winning margin of the season. The fifth try came on 69 minutes when Thorton, a problem for the Dromore defence all day, raced onto a chipped pass and surged over the line to ensure the victory for his team.
Graham had his hat trick in mind though so the frustration wasn’t over for Dromore, and the captain got it on 76 minutes. He could well have passed as Derry broke through again, but there are few who will be able to stop Graham in full flight and he finished the job himself, joining David Lapsley on the short list of players who have scored a treble this season so far.
It is now four successive victories for City of Derry since that miserable loss at Carrick last month, and this was another huge boost ahead of next week’s crucial Junior Cup tie against Ballyclare.
Teams:
CITY OF DERRY: F. Canning, T. Cameron, S. Duffy, G. McKinley, C. McColgan, T. Dillon, J. McDevitt, S. Corr, JP Millar, A. McDonnell, A. Logue, D. Lapsley, D. Graham, R. McLaughlin, K. Thorton.
DROMORE: R. Stewart, R. Stewart, A. Hanna, M. McMaster, A. McDonald, B. Russell, B. Carey, J. McBurney, J. Patterson, A. Stewart, D. Dillon, J. Brame, A Rutledge, B. McClearn, J. Dillon.