V’s Dungannon
In their first home fixture of the season, the Maxol-sponsored Carrick 1st XV were
beaten by 43 points to 25 by a strong Dungannon II side in a Junior Cup pool game
on Saturday 5 September. Missing a number of regulars, the young Carrick side offered
stern resistance for sixty minutes before conceding four tries in the final quarter.
Some early season "rustiness" was obvious from both sides but Carrick had the additional
problem of new combinations in a number of areas and it may have been this which
caused some defensive lapses late on. The scrum, although under pressure, held up
resonably well and Stuart Currie and Mark Patterson provided an excellent service
from the line-out. In the first half, and for part of the second, Carrick competed
well in the loose but, appearing to tire and/or lose concentration late on, they
turned the ball over on too many occasions. The visitors took full advantage of this.
Playing with a stiff breeze at their backs, Carrick started well and took the lead
after just four minutes with an excellent try by left wing Michael Gilmour. Running
turn-over ball, David McKeen made a lot of ground into the the Dungannon half and
then passed to Gilmour who beat three defenders to go in near the posts. Karl Wilkinson
added the points. The out-half then set up Carrick's second try five minutes later
with a well placed grubber kick which Gilmour gathered to score in the corner. This
had followed a strong run by Aaron Mckinney in which Dungannon had to make four attempts
to tackle him before bringing him down! Karl Wilkinson put over an excellent conversion
from near the touch-line to give the home side a 14 points to nil lead. Shortly afterwards
he added a penalty from 45 metres out to extend Carrick's lead. Having spent vitrually
all of the match up to this point in their own half, the visitors then began to assert
themselves and were rewarded with a try after twenty minutes. Carrick's mid-field
defence came up too quickly and the line was broken by Dungannon; despite a last
ditch tackle by McKinney, the visitors were able to gather and go over. Although
the conversion, into the wind, appeared to have been blown across the posts, it was
given by the referee! Shortly afterwards, Carrick replied with another well struck
penalty from Wilkinson. The home side appeared to be heading into the break with
their thirteen point lead intact but, right on the stroke of half-time, the visitors
scored when they re-cycled quickly following a tap penalty. The try was converted
to leave Carrick leading at half-time by 20 points to 14.
With the advantage of the wind behind them in the second half, Dungannon had territorial
advantage throughout. Carrick's defence held until the thirteenth minute of the half
when turn-overs and sustained pressure from the visitors led to a try in the left
hand corner. This was converted to give Dungannon a one point lead. Going into the
final quarter, the visitors added another(unconverted) try from yet another Carrick
turn-over and then made the game safe with two tries inside two minutes from their
No 8 who took advantage of some slack Carrick defending to run in from half-way on
both occasions.The first of these tries was converted. Carrick replied with a try
from the impressive David McKeen with ten minutes left but Dungannon had the last
word when they caught Carrick napping and ran a tap penalty from inside their own
22 and touched down out wide. The try was not converted to leave the final score
at 43 points to 25 in Dungannon's favour.
While there are areas for Carrick to improve on, the return of players currently
absent for various reasons, and as combinations bgin to jell, there is enough to
suggest that they will, once again,be competitive in the League. This starts on Saturday
12 September when Carrick will be at home to CIYMS.
The Carrick team which faced Dungannon was:
A. McKinney; G. Hughes, J. Wady, K. Quinn, M. Gilmour; K. Wilkinson(J. Sheriff),
G. Picken(Capt); D. McKeen, C. Blair, P. Greenaway, S. Currie, M. Patterson, C. Ferris,
M. Hadden, P. McIlrath.
There will certainly be competition for places on the 1st XV if Saturday's performance
at Woodlawn by the 2nd XV is anything to go by. They beat Ballymena III by 62 points
to nil, with the referee bringing the game to an end ten minutes early. Also at home,
the 4th XV beat CIYMS IV by 65 points to 7. Unfortunately the 3rd XV lost away to
Ballyclare IV by 40 points to nil.
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