Carrick 1sts remain unbeaten
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
THANKS to a decent second half performance, the Maxol-sponsored Carrick 1st XV maintained their unbeaten record and eventually ran out comfortable winners against a stubborn Letterkenny side at Woodlawn on Saturday 11 October.
The final score of 38 points to 13 had looked far from the likely outcome for much of the first half when the home side seemed to be doing their best to gift the visitors an unlikely away victory! During the first quarter, Carrick monopolised possession and territory but, apart from an excellent Karl Quinn try had nothing else to show for their dominance. The basic problem was an inability to protect possession, largely because of a litany of unforced errors.
This is not to take anything away from Letterkenny who defended strongly and put in some big hits on the Carrick attackers. The second quarter was almost completely dominated by the visitors who used the breeze in their favour to keep Carrick penned in their own half for most of the time and they reached half-time with a deserved 13 points to 7 lead.
The secod half was a different story though as Carrick gradually took control. Their scrum had the Letterkenny eight under pressure and the back row, especially open-side Ross Marsden, became much more visible in the loose. Line-outs were better contolled and the backs, with Rob Kitchen doing an excellent job in distribution and direction at inside centre, began to execute moves with greater precision.
The result was four unanswered tries from the home side and a man of the match performance from left winger Willie Shaw who ran in three of them.
Carrick began well and took the lead after three minutes with a well-worked try by Karl Quinn who loked very sharp on his return. From quick ruck ball, Kitchen ran an excellent line as the decoy runner and a miss pass to Quinn allowed the centre to go through a gap and race in from thirty metres out. Karl Wilkinson added the conversion points. Unfortunately, these were to be the only Carrick points of the first half as they spurned opportunity after opportunity and eventually allowed the visitors to get a firm grip on the game.
They were rewarded with a try after twenty-five minutes when the Carrick defensive line was breached and from quick ruck ball Letterkenny forced their way over. The try was converted to level the scores. By this stage, Letterkenny were using the breeze intelligently and forcing Carrick to kick back into it and frequently to give Letterkenny the throw in at the line-out. With two successful penalty kicks in the run-up to half-time, the visitors reached the break with a deserved 13 points to 7 lead.
With the breeze now in their favour, Carrick began to re-assert themselves after the break and reduced the Letterkenny lead with a Karl Wilkinson penalty after just three minutes.
Now largely controlling territory, the home side began to create opportunities and re-gained the lead after twelve minutes with the first of Shaw's three tries. A well placed kick by full-back Aaron McKinney into the Letterkenny 22 was turned over; Carrick shifted the point of attack first to the right and then to the left before a well-timed pass from Kitchen put Shaw into space and the winger used his pace to round the defence and touch down near the posts. Karl Wilkinson converted.
Although Carrick were by now operating more or less continuously in and around the visitors' 22, stern defence kept them out until the twenty-fourth minute when Willie Shaw got his second try. From a line-out on the Letterkenny 22, Carrick drove forward and, when the ball was released, Shaw popped up in the centre as part of a decoy move and split the visitors' defence to score at the posts.
Wilkinson again added the points to give Carrick a 24-13 lead. Five minutes later they put the game out of Letterkenny's reach with a try in which both backs and forwards were invoved. Some clever inter-passing in a narrow space down the left-hand touch-line, with a good run and well-timed final pass from blind-side Paul McIlrath, gave Aaron McKinney the space to beat his marker and touch down.
Karl Wilkinson again added the points. As the game drew to a close, the visitors made valiant efforts to get a consolation score and had Carrick penned inside their 22 for about five minutes. However, when they turned the ball over near the Carrick line,the up-shot was the best try of the game and Willie Shaw's hat-trick.
Great vision by No 8 Andy McKeen, who spotted that Letterkenny were light on defenders on the open side, resulted in Carrick running the ball out of their own 22 and a great running line and well-timed pass from Kitchen allowed Shaw to run in from half-way and score under the posts. Wilkinson added the points to leave the final score at 38 points to 13 in Carrick's favour.
While Carrick got the expected comfortable home win in the end, they will not want to repeat their first half performance in the harder games coming up. Their next six League games are away from home, with Lisburn first up on Saturday 18 October and they will need to be at their best if they wish to maintain their unbeatten record.
The Carrick team against Letterkenny was:
A. McKinney; K. Jordan, K. Quinn, R. Kitchen, W. Shaw; K.Wilkinson, G. Picken(Capt); D. McKeen, G. Baxter, P. Greenaway, A. Kincaid, S. Currie, P. McIlrath, R. Marsden, A. McKeen.
All three of the senior Carrick men's teams in action on Saturday won their games. The 3rds beat Ballyclare 4ths by 12 points to 8, with Marty Reid getting two tries and the man of the match award. The 4ths beat Academy 3rds by 24 points to 15, with John Marshall getting two tries and the man of the match award.
Congratulations also goes to the Under 20s, who started their league campaign away to City of Derry, and came away from the Maiden City with 2 points, winning 25 points to 5 points. Scores from Matt Hadden, Michael Gilmour, Conor Dyer and Stuart Currie, along with a penalty and a conversion from Johnny Sheriff, left their coach Kris James very happy with the teams performance.
The fact that Carrick were able to travel with four subs, while Derry had none, is a sign of the spirit that is already growing in this side. This was best shown by their captain Mark Patterson, who led from the front all night and was awarded the man of the match award.
The result was an excellent squad performance and it was very pleasing to see a number of new players such as Jim Neill, Andrew McCurry and Stewart Garrett making their debut at a senior level. The next fixture for the team is Tuesday the 21st of October when they will entertain Ballynahinch at home.
Any players in the East Antrim area who are interested in this age group of rugby are more than welcome to come down to training on a Monday or Thursday night at 7pm and make themselves known to the coaches or phone Michael Simms on 07849 718064.
