FOR the second time in three years the Durham Cup final will be an all-Darlington affair at Durham City on Saturday.

With a strong contingent from final opponents Mowden Park in the large crowd, holders Darlington overwhelmed West Hartlepool in the first half of last night's semi-final.

It was the first time they had beaten West for 28 years, and the visitors' sad plight was all too evident as they went 32-0 down at half-time.

Apart from getting involved in a few scraps, with flanker Tim Sawyer earning a yellow card, West showed little of the appetite which almost earned them a league win at Mowden.

Coach John Stabler went on for the second half, along with another old stager Stuart Whitehead in the back row and they managed to galvanise the pack into competitive action.

Hooker Brett Cullinane charged over from a ruck as they held their own for 30 minutes, but Darlington scored two more tries in the last ten minutes through outstanding flanker Martin Howe and No 8 Bryan Dixon.

With lock Paul Radford helping to beef up the pack and Paul Lee back to pull the strings at fly half, Darlington made a fast start.

Skipper David Glendenning, yellow carded midway through the second half, landed a simple penalty in the second minute.

Paul Lee then ran a penalty, his brother Craig, who featured in most of the tries, made ground and after a series of forward drives prop Dan Miller charged over in the left corner.

Glendenning's excellent conversion made it 10-0 after ten minutes and they scored four more tries in the last 15 minutes of the half.

Two owed much to high-speed handling, with Paul Lee gliding through a gap to finish off a move and winger Frankie Coulson racing in from 35 metres.

Flanker Del Lewis drove over after a line-out catch by Richard Snowball, then livewire scrum half Rob Stewart put Glendenning over.

The captain's kicking form deserted him as he landed only one more conversion, but he was never under any pressure.

Gareth Kerr showed his paces with a searing run out of defence for West, but for all their second-half spirit they rarely threatened to score again

l Middlesbrough, beaten by Sandal in last year's Yorkshire Cup final, begin this season's campaign with a home tie against Bridlington tonight (6.30).

They have colt Mark Bivins standing by to play at scrum half as Jon Wrigley suffered a dead leg on Saturday. Winger Wes Henry and centre John Stewart return, Ben Horton is at hooker and Ben Pattinson is on the bench after recovering from a thigh injury.

l The final of the first Durham County Intermediate Cup between Horden and Billingham will be held at Hartlepool Rovers tonight (6.15).

Billingham reached this stage by beating Gateshead 12-5 and West Hartlepool TDSOB 35-18, while Horden had a walkover in the first round before beating Ryton 30-9.

Billingham will be captained by lock Barry McGrath and include former Stockton stalwarts Mick Wilson at prop, Will Hudspith at centre and Micky Conlon on the bench.

Horden have former county players Steve Black and Gary Tait in the second row and also boast a lively back division, including Paul Priestley at fly half, David Grand and Glen Bowman at centre, and Paul Bruce at full back