The Maxol-sponsored Carrick 1st XV made it two away wins in a row(and three in total) when they beat Limavady by 24 points to 15 on Saturday 6 October. While there were too many unforced errors for this to be regarded as a vintage performance, the young Carrick team showed great resolve to wrest back control of the game when it could have slipped away from them in the third quarter. The plaudits must go to the pack this week. They got on top eventually in the scrum, dominated the line-out and, despite some over fussy refereeing, won the battle in the loose. Ross Marsden and Neal Hannah were effective at the break-down, Glen Baxter carried well and put in some crunching tackles(and,no, he didn’t write the report this week!) while Andy Kincaid and Curtis Rea also carried strongly as well as providing clean line-out possession. Behind the scrum, Glen Picken kicked well out of hand and directed operations intelligently while out-half Johnny Sheriff made some nice breaks and put over three conversions and a penalty in difficult kicking conditions. The pick of the backs was probably Jason Wady who took his two tries extremely well.
Carrick got off to a great start with tries in the tenth and fifteenth minutes, both from centre Jason Wady. The first came after a a great break by Johnny Sheriff and the out-half converted both tries to give the visitors a 14 points to 3 lead, the only reply from Limavavdy being a penalty. In the second quarter, Carrick were guilty of some sloppy play and ill discipline which resulted in a high penalty count. Fortunately for Carrick, the hosts could not convert their opportunities into points and the visitors took their 14-3 lead into the interval.
Carrick began the second half as they had ended the first with too many unforced errors and poor discipline. This resulted in a sin-binning and , this time, Limavady took full advantage. After seven minutes they scored a try in the right hand corner following some slick handling by their backs. This was not converted but three minutes later, when Carrick turned over possession inside their own 22, one of the home side’s second rows charged over to touch down near the posts. This try was converted to give Limavady the lead by 15 points to 4. However, the hosts then showed their own bit of indiscipline and had a prop sin-binned. Johnny Sheriff put over the resulting penalty from thirty-five metres out to restore the Carrick lead. From this point on, the visitors took control of territory and possession and, after a long period camped in the Limavady 22 and a series of scrums – each of which resulted in a penalty to Carrick – the referee finally awarded a penalty try. Johnny Sheriff converted to give Carrick a 24 points to 15 lead and they were able to play out the lengthy period of injury time (one of the Limavady props sustained a serious leg injury) with their defence comfortably on top.
There is still a lot for Warren McLean and his fellow coaches to work on but Carrick displayed a lot of character in this performance as they did in beating Omagh away a week earlier. Next week they have the chance to avenge their only defeat so far when they travel to Randalstown for a Junior Cup match.
The Carrick team was:
A. McIlroy; A. Moore, J. Anderson, J. Wady, J. Davidson; J. Sheriff, G. Picken; R. Williams, G. Baxter, J. McIlwaine, A. Kincaid, C. Rea, N. Hannah, R. Marsden, R. McGonigle.
Next week’s fixtures are:-
Thurs 11th October
3rd XV vs Lisburn III, home, 7.30
Sat 13th October
1st XV vs Randalstown, Junior Cup, away
4th XV vs Queen’s IV, home
