Dungannon kicked off in ideal conditions with brilliant sunshine at Gibson Park on Saturday. A tap penalty just after the start by the alert Toby Gribben brought play to the home line and after good work by the pack Sean O Hagan was on hand to burrow over. Ben McCaughey added an easy conversion. 0-7.
Malone worked their way back into the game and pressure on the visitor’s line allied to good handling got them an opening unconverted try in the left corner.
Mid way through the half Adam Milligan won a penalty when a Malone player was found guilty of holding on. Ben McCaughey added the 3 points from just outside the home 22 making it 5-10.
While the visitors line out malfunctioned at times Malone also had problems in this area and from an overthrow Dungannon set up good field position but possession was lost in a turn over.
Despite losing David Leyburn to a yellow card Dungannon continued to press and were rewarded with another penalty when Malone were caught offside. Ben McCaughey added the 3 points.
Malone had the final say of the half with a second uncovered try in the corner when the visitors were again found lacking numbers out wide, making it 10-13 at the break.
Maone got two early penalties at the start of the second half but these yielded nothing when former Dungannon player Michael Lawton was wide with his attempt and their second penalty failed to make touch.
Throughout the game Malone were frequently guilty of not releasing and referee Gaffikin had no hesitation in penalising them. From one such penalty Ben McCaughey extended the lead to six points at 10-16.
In the third quarter the visitors failed to get much in the way of quality possession or territory with much of this period spent in defence. Penalties were conceded and they were lucky not to get a second yellow card but the defence and in particular the back row was very sound soaking up a lot of Malone pressure.
On 70 minutes Dungannon sprung back into life when a Malone overthrow at the line out was gratefully accepted with the ball moved to Kyle Gormley who scythed through the defence and offloaded to Alex Johnston who still had some work to do but got the try, converted by Ben. 10-23.
Just after this a wayward Malone kick was caught and the ball moved to Mervyn Brown who with electrifying pace made 50 metres in field to bring play close to the home line. The ball was recycled and moved out wide where Ben Connolly got the final score giving Dungannon a convincing win 10-28.
This was a good all-round performance from Dungannon with much to be happy with but there are certainly areas that could improve including the tendency to concede penalties. Had Michael Lawton brought his kicking boots the outcome could have been closer. This has been a first class start to the season with 3 wins from 3 against not insignificant opposition in the Ulster Premiership first division, and no doubt sterner tests await later in the season.