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Carrick beaten in Towns Cup

Wednesday, 27 January 2010

THE Maxol-sponsored Carrick 1st XV made an early exit from the Towns' Cup when they lost their re-arranged first round game away to Dromore on Saturday 23 January.
The final score of 39 points to 10 in favour of the Section 1 side in no way reflected the relative merits of the two teams. If anything, Dromore were comprehensively out-played up front, with Paul Greenaway, Glen Baxter and David McKeen giving their opposite numbers in the Dromore front row a torrid time.
It was only after the move to uncontested scrums fifteen minutes into the second half that the County Down side really broke clear.The problem for Carrick was, as for much of the season, having to put out yet another much changed, and inexperienced, back-line with the consequences this has for defensive patterns and attacking moves. To some extent Carrick were able to counter this by putting Dromore under pressure up front and denying them quick clean ball but the move to uncontested scrums took pressure off their half-backs and back row and allowed their excellent mid-field space to operate. Four of the six Dromore tries came in the last quarter after Carrick's dominance in the scrum had been removed.
Carrick began well and were on top in terms of territory and possession for most of the first quarter but it was the home team who took the lead with a penalty aftrer eighteen minutes. They then extended the lead with an unconverted try after twenty-three minutes; this came completely against the run of play and from a defensive lapse by Carrick in mid-field.
Carrick continued to exert pressure up front and got their reward with a try from centre Jason Wady just before half-time. This came after a strong run and good ball retention by Aaron McKinney, carries by Paul Greenaway and Andy Kincaid; quick re-cycling and transfer gave Wady space to get in at the corner. The try was not converted. This left Dromore leading by 8 points to 5 at half-time.
At the start of the second half, Carrick continued where they had left off, with the pack fairly well in control ,but another defensive error let the home side in for a try after ten minutes of the half. This was converted. Shortly afterwards, the loss of a Dromore prop to injury, and the move to uncontested scrums, was to prove decisive. Almost immediately, the Dromore out-half, with rare pressure free possession from a scrum, split the Carrick defence to score from half-way.
Ten minutes later, poor defending by the visitors let Dromore in for their fourth try. With the game slipping awy from them, Carrick did get a consolation score in the thiry-second minute of the half when Karl Quinn got in at the corner after good work by the forwards, especially Matt Hadden.
In the closing minutes, with fog turning things into something of a farce, Dromore ran in two further tries to produce a final score that was far from a fair reflection of the efforts of the two sides.
With Cup involvement finished, it will now be back to League action for Carrick when they face Lisburn away on 6 February.
The Carrick team against Dromore was:
L. Totton; J.Neill, J. Wady, J. McConnell, K. Quinn; A. McKinney(G. Picken), M. Patterson; D. McKeen, G. Baxter, P. Greenaway, S. Currie(Capt), A. Kincaid, M. Hadden, A. McKeen, P. McIlrath.
In other matches, Carrick 3rd XV beat Ulster Titans 72 points to nil in the Butler Shield, having lent the opposition two players to enable the game to take place. The 4th XV lost by 24 points to 3 to Ballyclare IV in the McCambley Cup and the Under 19s were beaten by 13 points to 3 by Randalstown. There were two Under 13s games, one against Coleraine and one with Ballymoney, and both were won by Carrick. The Under 15s beat Ballymoney.
Fixtures for Saturday 30 January are:
1st XV- no match
2nd XV vs Harlequins III, away
3rd XV vs Randalstown II, away
Under 19s vs Larne, away

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