The Maxol-sponsored Carrick 1st XV gained a winning bonus point in beating Lisburn awayby 38 points to 11 on Saturday 15th November.This win moves Carrick, at least temporarily, into the position of joint League leaders along with Academy and Omagh. However, the latter have played fewer games and remain unbeaten.
Saturday’s game was played in very damp underfoot conditions and the match had to be moved from the usual Lisburn Firsts pitch to one of the others. Thankfully, the rain stayed away during the game and both teams managed better with ball in hand that might have been expected. The performance by Carrick, despite the scoreline, was mixed; they looked in total control at some times and, at others allowed Lisburn greater freedom than they might have expected. Their discipline at times let them down and at one period in the middle of the second half were briefly down to thirteen men,with two players in the bin. In a tighter game against better opposition that could have cost them dearly.That said, Carrick never looked in any serious difficulty and any threatened comeback by Lisburn was fairly easily contained. For Carrick, Captain Johnny Cullen had an excellent game in the centre, breaking the line on a number of occasions and always being on hand when others made the initial break. Aaron McKinney also was influential ay scrum-half, keeping his opposite number under pressure at scrum time and being involved in many of the Carrick attacking moves. Jason Wady, at full-back, took his two tries well and almost had a third, being pulled down just short of the line. In the forwards, Matt Hadden and Curtis Rea again showed how effective they are as ball-carriers – Rea also did a good job in disrupting the Lisburn line-out- and Andy Kincaid and Chris Rodgers, until he had to go off injured, were effective in both loose and tight play. Adam Gibney did good work in defence and attack while Matthew Fisher put in some big tackles when he came on as a back-row replacement in the second half.
Carrick started the game in determined fashion, shoving Lisburn backwards at the first scrum and they took the lead with a well worked try after five minutes.After the initial break had been made by Johnny Cullen, Matt Hadden carried strongly into the Lisburn 22 and, when the ball was quickly re-cycled, Carrick had an over-lap on the left and Jason Wady was able to race into the corner for his first try. From a difficult angle, Luke Whittal added the conversion points. Lisburn then got themselves into the game with a penalty on eight minutes but Carrick were begining to take charge in terms of possession and territory and extended their lead five minutes later with a try from Curtis Rea. After Carrick had gone through several phases inside Lisburn territory, with Andy Kincaid and Matt Hadden carrying strongly, Rea picked up at a ruck and went straight through the middle, brushing off two would be tacklers on his way to scoring close to the posts. The conversion was missed, leaving Carrick leading by 12 points to 3. Carrick continued to dominate into the second quarter but Lisburn had sorted out their scrum difficulties and things became much more even in this regard. The home side reduced the Carrick lead with a second penalty after twenty-four minutes and , for a while, the visitors threatened to let them back into the game with some sloppy handling and defensive work. However,Lisburn could not take advantage and Carrick extended their lead on the stroke of half-time when Jason Wady went over in the corner for his second try after strong carries by Matt Hadden and Robbie Williams and a couple of Carrick tap penalties close in. After his simple miss earlier, Luke Whittal put over the conversion from wide out to give Carrick a 19 points to 6 half-time lead.
Carrick started the second half as they had the first, taking the game to Lisburn. After just three minutes they extended their lead when Chris Rodgers made a break in loose play and the ball was quickly re-cycled for Neil Hastings to go over in the corner. This try was not converted. Three minutes later Ross Crymble got the touch-down for Carrick after a well controlled line-out catch and drive. Whittal added the points to give Carrick a 31 points to 6 lead. After this, the visitors seemed to ease off and their cohesion may have been affected by a number of injury substitutions, including for hooker Richard Higgins. In any case, the home side probably enjoyedv their best period of the match at the end of the third quarter and into the fourth when they played much of the game in and around the Carrick 22. Carrick did not help their own cause by getting two men sent to the bin and, for a period of two or three minutes had only thirteen players on the field. However, Lisburn were not really able to take advantage against a determined Carrick defence although they did get some reward after thirty minutes of the half when they broke through in mid-field following a scrum near the Carrick line and scored under the posts. However, the curse on kicks from in front apllied to the home side as well as the conversion went wide, leaving Carrick leading by 31 points to 11. Now restored to fourteen men, Carrick hit back straight from the kick-off which they re-gathered and went through several phases close to the Lisburn line before Johnny Cullen forced his way over for a deserved try. Luke Whittal put over the conversion to give Carrick a 38 points to 11 lead. Although the home side continued to battle up to the final whistle, Carrick contained them fairly easily and Lisburn never looked like adding to their score in the final five minutes or so.
This was, for the most part, a very good performance by Carrick and gives them four wins out of six in the League. However, Lisburn have been suffering something of an injury crisis and there will be much tougher challenges ahead for Carrick, including their next game on 29th November when they welcome current joint League leaders Academy to Tom Simms Memorial Park.
The Carrick team which faced Lisburn was:-
J. Wady; N. Hastings, J. Cullen(Capt), J. Sheriff, P. Simpson; L. Whittal, A. McKinney; A. Gibney, R. Higgins(E. McBrien), R. Williams, A. Kincaid, C.Rodgers(M.Fisher), M. Hadden, R. Crymble, C. Rea.
