Carrick caught out at the death

The Carrick RFC U-15 rugby team were beaten by Dunmore, 19-12, in their opening fixture of the season in Dunmore on Sunday last.

Carrick only had 16 players due to injury and unavailability, but there was a healthy mix of experienced players and the added option of three new players to the squad — Elphin duo Oran Oates and Noel Dowd as well as Carrick’s Jude Kennedy. All three went on to acquit themselves very well in their very first rugby match, with Oates’ performance, in particular, catching the eye.

Carrick completely dominated the first half in terms of territory and possession but their over-reliance on number 8, Krystian Kopczynski, resulted in poorly-executed plays and a shortage of options. There were also too many handling errors and poor running lines as Dunmore took a 7-0 lead into the interval. Dunmore moved 12-0 to the good before Carrick, through Seamus McGuire, Cavan McGourty, John Mee, Rory Connaughton, Theo Gately, Krystian Kopczynski and Oran Oates, began to assert themselves on proceedings. A well-taken try by Mee was converted by John Foley before Rory Connaughton crossed the whitewash to make it 12-12 with five minutes remaining. But the visitors knocked the ball on from the restart, inviting pressure that Dunmore took advantage of, thanks to a try with the last play of the game.

The team are away to Loughrea next weekend.