Carrick claim J1C Cup final honours
Dermot Foley and Noel McDermott celebrate Carrick's cup success against Tuam on Sunday last. Picture: Mark Kelly
The Carrick-on-Shannon senior team took on Tuam in the Connacht Junior 1C Cup final at Creggs RFC on Sunday last.
Carrick started the match brightly. Gerard Murtagh found space out wide to cut through the Tuam defence to score a try under the posts, which was duly converted by Ruairi King.
Carrick dominated possession for large parts of the first 20 minutes but Tuam held firm after the concession of Murtagh's try and slowly got into the match with a successful penalty kick.
Tuam maintained the pressure and their hard work was rewarded with some fine back play, resulting in a try scored wide with the resultant conversion missed.
Tuam did not let up and Carrick were now under immense pressure. Dermot Foley was in the thick of the Carrick defence and was holding out. However, Carrick went down to 14 men after Patrick Charles was yellow-carded. Tuam took full advantage to score their second try, which was converted, to leave the half-time score 15-7 to Tuam.
Carrick came out in the second half with renewed vigour and their forwards started to get on top. With some huge carries from Shane McGuinness, Peter Lavin, Darrach Patterson and Robert McCaffrey opening up the Tuam defence, the relentless pressure led to Tuam coughing up a penalty after another massive carry from Peter Lavin. Ruairi King scored the points and shortly after Carrick were rewarded another penalty, which King slotted home to leave the score 15-13.
After some great work from the now dominant Carrick pack, the ball was transferred quickly from Ian McGhee into the hands of Patrick Charles at pace and he carved through the Tuam defence, scoring under the posts — 20-15 to Carrick after the easy conversion by King.
Tuam weren’t finished and kept fighting hard and kicked a penalty. The game was finely balanced when Carrick went down again to 14 men after Shane McGuiness was yellow carded.
The Carrick management brought in Liam McNamee and Jack Deegan to replace the hard-working Declan Kelly and Brendan Flannery who both had excellent games. Carrick put a huge shift in defence in the final ten minutes, Sean Hynes, Noel McDermott, Brendan Davis and Dean Flanagan making some great tackles to hold out for the final whistle to lift the Connacht J1C Cup.
Huge credit to the management team of Stephen King, Tom McGuinness and Brady White, the entire Carrick squad and the brilliant Carrick support on the day.
CARRICK RFC: Patrick Charles, Brendan Davis, Gerard Murtagh, Dean Flanagan, Ian McGhee, Ruairi King, Robert McCaffrey Brendan Flannery (captain), Shane McGuinness, Declan Kelly, Peter Lavin, Dermot Foley, Sean Hynes, Darrach Patterson, Jack Deegan, Ian Cullen, James Óg Maguire, Liam McNamee, Stephen Guckian, Jason Carney, Brian King, Denis McCaffrey, Nicodemus Adams.
Carrick U-13s take on Buccaneers (Athlone/Ballinasloe) next Sunday at Dexcom Park (Galway Showgrounds) in the Connacht final, kick off at 12 noon. The club is hoping for a big turnout to support Carrick’s young guns.
