The Carrick 1st XV put the previous week’s problems well behind them and got their League campaign off to a fine start with a 9 points to 6 away win against Coleraine on Saturday 20th September. This was the proverbial game of two halves, with a strong breeze favouring Coleraine in the first half and Carrick in the second. However,the Maxol-sponsored Carrick side defended very well in the first half and made better use of the elements than did their opponents in the second. Indeed, the home side was fortunate that the margin in the end was only three points as Carrick created the better try-scoring opportunities when they had the wind at their backs in the second half. The Carrick half-backs, Glen Picken and Johnny Sheriff produced a line kicking performance in the second half that was far superior to anything Coleraine had offered in the first half.This enabled the visitors to play most of the second period in their opponents half and forced Coleraine to attack from deep when they did get some ball. Although under pressure in the scrum, the Carrick back row of Ross Marsden, Matt Hadden and Curtis Rea kept the home team’s half backs under pressure and Rea in particular put in some storming runs. All of the Carrick side defended superbly when they had to but special mention should be made of prop Adam Gibney for his efforts, especially in the first half, but the Carrick effort was probably best epitomised by a thundering hit by centre Jason Wady on his opposite number late in the game which snuffed out what was begining to look like a dangerous Coleraine move. If there is one criticism of the Carrick performance, it was that they again gave away too many penalties. Partly, this refelected their level of committment but this needs to be more controlled on occasions.
The home side began strongly with the breeze at their backs but the Carrick defence held and when they did eventually get into the Cloeraine half, took the lead with a Johnny Sheriff penalty after fifteen minutes.Coleraine continued to press but many of their attacking moves broke down because of poor handling in the windy conditions and, it has to be said, because of the pressure the visitors kept them under. It was not until the closing minutes of the half that the home side’s efforts were rewarded with a penalty goal to level the scores which remained at 3 points apiece until half-time.
Cloeraine started purposefully after the break, keeping ball in hand in the windy conditions and were rewarded with a penalty after seven minutes to put them into a 6 points to 3 lead. However, from then on, with some excellent line kicking from Picken and Sheriff, Carrick pretty much dominated proceedings apart from the odd break-out by the home side. The visitors levelled the scores after twelve minutes of the second half with a second Johnny sheriff penalty. Shortly afterwards, the out-half almost got over following a scrum close to the Coleraine line but was held up and couldn’t get the ball grounded. The visitors again had a chance to score when the forwards tried to drive over folllowinfg a 5-metre scrum but the Coleraine defence was excellent on this occasion A few minutes later Johnny Sheriff came close with a long range penalty effort which bounced back off the post. However, he put Carrick into the lead with his third successful kick after thirty minutes. In the closing stages , the home team attempted to mount a number of attacks but these were from deep and poor handling and excellent Carrick defence, including Wady’s tackle, caused them to break down. Carrick finished worthy winners and will go into next week’s away game with Ards II in the Junior Cup with some confidence.
The Carrick team which played Coleraine was:-
A. McKinney; N. Hastings, J. Cullen(Capt), J. Wady, P.Simpson, J. Sheriff, G. Picken; A. Gibney, N. Hanna, R. Williams, A. Kincaid( C. Rodgers), C. Ferris, M. Hadden, R.Marsden(R. McGonigle), C. Rea.
