The Maxol-sponsored Carrick 1st XV were beaten by 29 points to 15 by League leaders Ballyclare at the Cloughan on Saturday 16th November. The final margin of victory considerably flattered the hosts who, for most of the game, looked anything like winners.With fifteen minutes of normal time left, and Carrick leading by seven points, the referee reacted to an off the ball incident by sending two Carrick players and one Ballyclare player to the sin bin and this seemed to change the course of the game. Ballyclare already had a player in the bin so it was not the immediate numerical advantage which changed things,rather it was the loss of two of their most influential players which appeared to affect Carrick and the game changed very much in the home teams favour.During the time the Carrick players were off, and after the first sin binned Ballyclare player came back on, the hosts scored two converted tries and then added the bonus point try in the dying minutes of the game.
For Carrick, out-half Luke Whitall had an outstanding game,both with ball in hand and, especially, in kicking all of Carricks points from penalties. The back row was once again highly effective, with Neil Marsden, Chris Ferris and Curtis Rea, who played much of the game carrying an injury, working well at the break-down and as ball carriers. Ferris , Rea, Rodgers and Kincaid were all effective in the line-out, winning their own throws and stealing a few from Ballyclare.
Carrick started well and took the lead with a Luke Whitall penalty after just three minutes. The out-half was on target aagain five minutes later to increase Carrick’s lead to 6 points to nil.However, after fifteen minutes, the home side, after a series of penalties from which they opted to go for touch, found space on the outside of a rather narrow Carrick defence to score in the corner. With Ballyclare now getting the better of territory and possession, it was no surprise that they took the lead after twenty-three minutes with a penalty. As the half wore on, Carrick began to make more frequent forays into Ballyclare territory and, after a good run by Luke Whitall, they were awarded a penalty which the out-half duly put over to give the visitors the lead by 9 points to 8, a lead which they held until half-time.
In the early stages of the second half, Carrick seemed to be growing in confidence against an increasingly rattled looking Ballyclare side. The visitors increased their lead after thirteen minutes of the second half with another Whitall penalty, this time after the out-half had made a clean line break and the ball was taken on by Aaron Mckinney, Carrick winning the penalty at the break-down. Then ,three minutes later, and after a great run by Brian Alexander, Carrick won another break-down penalty, with the offfending Ballyclare player sent to the bin, and Whitall extended the Carrick lead to 15 points to 8. At this point, Carrick looked the better team but then came the multiple sending off with fifteen minutes to go and the game changed completely.With ten minutes to go, Ballyclare again found Carrick short of numbers out wide and got in for their second try which was converted to level the scores. Five minutes later their excellent fly-half, Niall Lawther, who had caused the Carrick defence problems all afternoon, beat two defenders to go over near the posts. Again the try was converted and the hosts added a fourth try, again finding Carrick short of numbers on the outside. This try was also converted to leave the final score at 29 points to 15 in Ballyclare’s favour.
While it might be going too far to suggest that this was a game Carrick lost rather than Ballyclare won, the sending off incident did seem to be a game changer and there is no doubt that the final score considerably flattered the home side. This week, Carrick are at home to Academy,who were within a missed conversion of beating Ballyclare a few weeks ago, so they can expect another stern test.
The Carrick team which faced Ballyclare was:-
A. McKinney; B. Alexander, J. Cullen, J. Sheriff, N. Hastings; L. Whitall, K. Topping; E. Peacock, N. Hanna, R. Williams, A. Kincaid(Capt), C. Rodgers, C. Ferris, N. Marsden, C. Rea.
