Saturday 26 February was a day of mixed fortunes for Carrick, with the age group sides doing extremely well but the senior sides losing out. Pride of place must go to the Under 15s who became Ulster League Champions following a 17 points all draw with Banbridge in the Final at Lisburn on Saturday morning. Under the rules,Carrick were awarded the title because they scored the first try. Also on Saturday morning, Carrick Under 19s had a crushing 36 points to nil away victory over Larne.
The Carrick 1st XV were away to Enniskillen and, despite holding their hosts reasonably well into a stiff breeze in the first half, eventually went down by 39 points to 10.
The 3rd XV came very close to over-coming Ballymena IV at Eaton Park in the quarter-finals of the Forster Cup, going down in the end by 25 points to 19. This was despite having to play with only fourteen men(because of injury) for all but ten minutes of the game.
After a close first half, Ballymena led by 5 points to nil at the break but Carrick scored the first points of the second period when David Ferris went over for a fine individual try, having beaten several defenders in a run from half-way. The second row added the conversion points himself. Carrick then took the lead five minutes later when centre Luke Totten scored from quickly re-cycled ball following a great run by Gareth McKeown. This try was not converted and the hosts reduced the deficit a couple of minutes later when they went over in the corner. This try was not converted to leave Carrick leading by 12 points to 10, a lead which they extended after twenty-two minutes of the half when Chris Rodgers ran an excellent line to score off a David Ferris pass. Ferris added the points to give the visitors a nine point lead. However, Ballymena hit back with a converted try two minutes later -thanks to some sloppy Carrick defending- and then took a one point lead from a penalty with thirteen minutes remaining. A few minutes later, after an unsuccessful shot at a penalty goal, the visitors failed to gather the 22 drop-out and allowed Ballymena to run in from half-way.This try was not converted to leave Carrick still within range. However, try as they might, they could not manage to get into a scoring position in the closing minutes.This was a very gutsy performance from fourteen man Carrick for whom Johnny McIlwaine, David Ferris, Gareth McKeown and Luke Totten all impressed.
