Carrickfergus RFC 1st XV lost their first round Junior Cup tie with Instonians II at Tom Simms Memorial Park by 12 points to 9 on Saturday 14th September. The Maxol-sponsored home side had more than enough chances to win the game but did not convert promising attacking positions into tries. Their defence also let them down on two occasions as both Instonians tries were eminently preventable.With their scrum on top for the most part, and more than parity at the break-down, Carrick really should have won this game with something to spare.
The home team started brightly in almost perfect rugby conditions, pushing the visitors back in the scrum on a number of occasions, giving Ryan McGonigle the opportunity to take on the defence with his powerful surges off the back.After fifteen minute, blind-side Neil Marsden almost got over at the end of an attack involving both forwards and backs but the ball was lost just short of the line.However, Carrick were awarded a penalty for an offence during the move and Johnny Sheriff kicked Carrick into a 3-0 lead. As the game moved into the second quarter, Instonians began to get some control of territory and possession. They took the lead on twenty-eight minutes when their scrum-half threw an outrageous dummy which fooled the Carrick fringe defence at a ruck 30 metres out and then stepped at least two defenders to get in close to the posts. The try was converted to give the visitors a 7 points to 3 lead. Carrick came back aand following two penalty kicks to touch in the Instonians 22 came close from a line-out catch and drive but were penalised for blocking. With three minutes to go to half-time, winger Brian Alexander ran back a poor Instonians clearance kick and, at the ensuing break-down, Carrick were awarded a penalty which Johnny Sheriff kicked to narrow the gap to one point. Almost immediately, the visitors hit back with their second try and, again , the Carrick defence was at fault. Although under severe pressure on their own put-in at a scrum on the Carrick 22, Instonians somehow managed to get the ball clear and their out-half set off on a curving run and was missed by at least two Carrick defenders before he crossed the line in the right hand corner. The conversion attempt was missed and the visitors went into half-time with a 12 points to 6 lead.
Carrick dominated both territory and possession in the early stages of the second half, with full-back AMcIlroy finding several excellent touches deep in Instonians territory. However, the home side simply could not convert pressure into points, conceding number of penalties when in good attacking positions and turning the ball over in contact too often.With the third quarter drawing to a close, they did get some reward when Johnny Sheriff kicked his third penalty to narrow the gap to three points. In the final quarter though, Instonians once again took a degree of territorial control although they threatened the Carrick line on only one occasion when they lost control of the ball close to the Carrick line. The closing minutes of the game belonged to Carrick and they went close on a number of occasions. On the first occasion, Neil Marsden peeled off a driving maul and was tackled just short and then, a few minutes later, the same player came close following a charge by Ryan McGonigle. When the ball was re-cycled on this occasion, a knock-on brought the final whistle with the visitors holding onto their 12 points to 9 lead.
This was certainly a game of which Carrick had the winning and a little bit of patience, and improved execution, would have brought them more than one try. As against Larne, there were good idividual performances across the team, including once again from Ryan McGonigle and from Neil Marsden, Andy Kincaid, Chris Rodgers in the forwards and Andy McIlroy and Brian Alexander in the backs. Certainly, man on man, Carrick looked to have the better players in the contest with Instonians. It is a matter of getting the linkages right and turning breaks and half-breaks into try-scoring opportunities and, as the season progresses, this area of performance should improve.
On Saturday 21st September, Carrick open their League campaign away to Enniskillen.
The Carrick team which faced Instonians was:-
A. McIlroy; A. Moore, J. Cullen, J. Wady(A. McKinney), B. Alexander; J. Sheriff, K. Topping; A. Gibney, N. Hanna, R.Williams, C. Rodgers, A. Kincaid(Capt)N. Marsden, C. Rea(J. Magill), R. McGonigle
