v’s Donaghadee
Carrick lose...
The Carrick 1st XV suffered one of their heaviest defeats in recent years when an
under-strength side were beaten by 41 points to 3, away at Donaghadee on Saturday
2 February. Although there can be no argument that the home side were deserving winners,
Carrick did make a fight of it until they were reduced to fourteen men when debutant
prop Gareth Williamson was forced to go off with twenty minutes remaining. During
the last quarter Donaghadee ran in three converted tries, Carrick simply running
out of defenders on a number of occasions.
With Gareth Williamson carrying an injury from early on, Carrick were under pressure
in the scrum throughout but, not for the first time this season, Andy Kincaid and
Terry McCracken totally dominated the line-out, stealing quite a few of the home
side's throws. However, with the scrum problem and niggling injuries to key players
making life difficult for Carrick in the loose , they got very little "go-forward"
ball and struggled throughout to put pressure on the opposition. Mention must, however,
be made of the performance of Mark Patterson at wing forward; called up from the
Seconds, he put in a very impressive performance and was undoubtedly Carrick's best
player on the day.
Carrick started badly, conceding an early try but then hit back with a Karl Wilkinson
penalty and were unfortunate not to take the lead when another kick from the out-half
hit the post. The score remained at 5 pointsto 3 in favour of the hostds until just
before half-time when they were awarded a somewhat dubious try. In the second half,
however, Donaghadee took control and were already heading for victory when Carrick
were reduced to fourteen men with twenty minutes remaining. From then on, the home
side were totally in control and simply over-whelmed the tiring Carrick side, scoring
three tries in the run-in to full time.
On Saturday 9 February, Carrick are at home to Lisburn in the League, with a 2pm
kick-off, and will be hoping for an improved performance.
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