Carrick Youth find it tough going at Malone.
Last Saturday Carrick RFC Youth teams travelled to Gibson Park, home of Malone RFC
to play their second set of Premiership league fixtures. Having beaten all 3 Portadown
sides the previous week, Carrick were hopefully of providing Malone with competitive
matches at all levels.
At U13 level the Carrick squad of 22 players arrived at Malone only to find out the
opposition could only field 9 players. At present with the new restructuring of the
age grades, Carrick seems to be one of the few sides in the province currently fielding
a full 15 man team. On the pitch Malone won the modified fixture 52-14. The score
line does not reflect the game in any shape or form as all 52 of Malone’s points
were scored by one rather large individual who would have had no problems turning
out for a senior Malone side that afternoon!!! Once this player was not on the pitch
Carrick scored 3 unanswered tries of their own. Although disappointed by the result
this young team have a lot to be proud off and can look forward to the rest of the
season with a lot of confidence. It is just a shame that they are being somewhat
penalised of being able to field a full side every week when opposition teams cannot.
Late withdrawals due to illness and injury saw both the U15 and U17 sides of Carrick
not fielding full strength sides but this did give the opportunity for fringe players
to step up and show what they could do.
The Under 15 Carrick side got off to a poor start conceding a tries from the opening
kick-off. This rattled the players and indeed during the first half, Carrick could
not cope with the pace and power of their opponents. Malone dominated all facets
of play at this stage running in another 4 tries before the half time break. The
start of the second half seen a mini Carrick revival with the forwards beginning
to gain a little parity in the contact area. The ever reliable John Magill was now
receiving some support from Matthew Wilson and Iain McMenimen. Carrick were rewarded
for their hard work in scoring what turned out to be their only points of the match.
Malone regained the upper hand for the remainder of the game and scored several more
tries to leave the final score 52-5. Although missing several key players, Carrick
have many simple lessons to take from this encounter. Too many heads dropped too
quickly and many players neglected their responsibility to the team. On a positive
note John Magill again led by example time after time putting his body on the line
for the good of the team. Next week against Ballynahinch all of this squad must follow
the example set by John.
The Under 17 side missing 6 first choice players lost 42-7 to a side that hasn’t
been beaten in over a year. Carrick did have sustained periods of possession in
both halves of this game but unfortunately could not turn these into points on the
board. Again like the U15 side this fixture did allow the coaches to “blood” several
fringe players and they now the hard work still required if they are to break into
the starting line-up. Next week this side travels to Ballynahinch hopeful that several
key players have recovered from minor injuries and are available for selection.
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