The Maxol-sponsored Carrick 1st XV won their away League match against Randalstown by 11 points to 5 on Saturday 19th January. In a match played in very cold conditions and on a heavy pitch, Carrick made hard work of overcoming their game opponents. Despite being in almost complete control of the game in the second half, the visitors had only two penalties to show for their efforts. Thankfully for Carrick, the game was played almost entirely in Randalstown territory in the second half half and the home side had very few opportunities, if any, to add to their first half score. Carrick’s problem in the second half was a combination of lack of patience when in possession, turning over the ball far to often, and a tendency to give away silly penalties. This despite the fact that patience and retention of the ball had given them an excellent first half try. For Carrick, Andy Kincaid was excellent with ball in hand as were Glen Baxter and Mark Patterson. The scrum was on top throughout, the line-out was, for the most part, solid and the pack as a whole were dominant at the break-down although they did give away too many penalties for offences on the ground. Johnny Sheriff, John Anderson and Aaron McKinney kicked very well out of hand, particularly in the second half, to ensure that Carrick kept Randalstown penned in their own territory.
In the early stages, Randalstown had the better of possession and territory and Carrick found it difficult to get their hands on the ball at all. The home side deservedly took the lead afterr eight minutes with a well worked try. From a disintegrating scrum on the Carrick 22, their No 8 did well to pick up and feed his scrum half who made ground up to the goal-line; quickly re-cycled ball then allowed the Randalstown right winger to get in at the corner. The try was not converted. Randalstown continued to dominate territory and possession but, with twenty minutes gone, Carrick managed their first spell of decent possession and this led to the equalising score. They went through four or five phases, with strong carries by Aaron Mckinney, Glen Baxter and, especially, Andy Kincaid, who made twenty metres deep into the Ranalstown 22. Finally, the ball was moved quickly along the backs and McKinney scored in the left hand corner. The try was not converted to leave the sides locked at 5 points apiece. The home side continued to put pressure on Carrick but the defence held up well. In the closing stages of the first half, both sides had chances to take the lead, Randalstown hitting the post with a long range penalty effort and Carrick missing an easier chance when another strong run by Kincaid led to a penalty in the Randalstown 22. The score remained at 5 points all at the break.
From a Carrick perspective, the second half was completely different from the first. Now it was Randalstown who found it difficult to get their hands on the ball (except when Carrick gave it to them!) and to get out of their own half. Some great line kicking by McKinney, Anderson and Sheriff ensured that the home side had a lot of defensive line-outs inside their own 22 while the Carrick scrum continued to give the Randalstown eight a torrid time. Despite this, Carrick found it hard to go through the phases as they had for their try in the first half and, for this, they had only their own impatience and , at times, poor decision making to blame. They did, however, take the lead after seven minutes of the half when Johnny Sheriff put over a penalty following a sustained Carrick attack. However, despite their dominance, the visitors did not extend their lead until the thirty-first minute of the half when Johnny Sheriff put over another penalty. The game continued with Carrick on top up until the final whistle but there was no further scoring, leaving Carrick the winners by 11 points to 5.
After two narrow defeats in a row, Carrick will be pleased to have avenged their League defeat at the hands of Randalstown at Tom Simms Memorial Park back in September. The way in which they dominated the game in the scond half was also pleasing but they will need to work on their capacity to take advantage of periods of dominance to score tries.
Next week, Carrick are at home to Limavady and will be looking to complete the double over the Co Londonderry side.
The Carrick team which faced Randalstown was:-
A. McKinney(Capt); A. McIlroy, J. Anderson, A. Moore, K. Love; J. Sheriff, K. Topping; E. Peacock, G. Baxter, R. Williams, A. Kincaid, C. Rodgers, C. Rea. R. Marsden, M. Patterson.
Fixtures for 26 January are:-
1st XV vs Limavady, home
2nd XV no match
3rd XV vs Banbridge IV, away
4th XV no match
