Good weekend for Carrick RFC youth teams

An understrength Carrick RFC senior team went down 28-12 to Ballina in their latest Connacht J1C League game, which was played in atrocious weather conditions on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the club’s U-18.5 team maintained their push for a Connacht League semi-final berth with a win at home to Corrib on Saturday afternoon. Carrick started quickly, and Diarmuid O’Connell had crossed for a brace of tries within eight minutes.

Carrick’s scoreboard dominance continued for the rest of the half with tries from Colm Burke, Ben O'Connor, Ambrose Devine and Peter Moran, leaving the half-time score 43-0 to the home team.

Corrib started the second half strongly and scored their first try in the 40th minute. Overall, the second half was a physical battle with both sides defending well for long stretches. Three more tries from Carrick's Peter Moran, Conal Creighton and Tristan Hoey, saw Carrick past the winning post.

The team are back in action on Friday, December 22nd, away to Loughrea.

CARRICK RFC: P. Moran, C. Enright, S. Mooney, G. Murtagh, C. Burke, B. O’Connor, R. Hanrahan, J. Deegan, G. Barry, O. Quinn, L. McNamee, A. Devine, C. McDonagh, J. Bosomtwe, D. O’Connell, A. Deegan, C. Creighton, T. Hoey, C. Gavin, O. Singleton, E. Costello.

U-15 TEAM

In only their second home game of the season, the Carrick U-15 squad put Ballinrobe to the sword, 35-9, to record their first-ever win over the Mayo outfit.

Carrick hit the front, thanks to a Ryan Moran penalty after sustained pressure by the forwards.

Ballinrobe soon drew level when a soft penalty for a high tackle left the teams deadlocked at 3-3.

However, Carrick were not to be deterred. The team were guided by half-backs Ben McGarry and Jack Foley. The back row of Seamus McGuire, Krystian Kopczynski and John Mee piled on the pressure, which was rewarded by a try for Kopczynski.

The home side lost flying winger Cavan McGourty to a knee injury. He was replaced by Luke Sharkey.

Ballinrobe responded well and went ahead with two successful penalties to lead 9-8 after 30 minutes.

Carrick, with the elements at their back, were excellent on the resumption. They made terrific use of the kick-chase tactic, with out-half Foley and Cillian McGowan putting the Ballinrobe defence under constant pressure.

Great chasing and follow-up play by wing Malachy Glover ensured two turnovers. The first ended with the ball in centre Rory Connaughton’s hands who dived over in the corner for Carrick’s second try.

Two quick tries followed in the next seven minutes courtesy of storming number 6, Seamus McGuire, and Kopczynski, which took the wind completely out of Ballinrobe’s sails.

Leading 25-9, Carrick rang the changes with a series of substitutions in the last quarter. Theo Gately, in what was his first game for over three months, made an immediate impact. John Mulvanerty and John Boyd brought fresh legs, stability and experience to the front row, while Eli Mulligan, Timothy Tansey, Rory McNabola and Ryan McGarry steadied the ship for Carrick on their entrance to the game — so much so that Carrick finished with a flourish.

Dominant in the tackle and strong in the ruck, Gately made two telling runs that resulted in the ball going to centre McGowan. He offloaded the ball to the supporting Kopczynski who duly completed a hat-trick of tries from ten metres out.

The last act was completed down the left side when, after another great kick forward, the entire Carrick pack recycled the ball for out-half Foley to score.

In a “must win” game, this was a fine performance that this team and bench needed to produce. Tactically, it was their best game of the season. They responded to the questions asked by Ballinrobe, particularly in the first half when conditions were challenging.

Ballinrobe never got close to crossing the Carrick line, such was the quality and consistency of tackling from both backs and forwards. Crucially, the bench managed to maintain the standards set by their team-mates when they were introduced.

Subject to decisions made by the Connacht Branch this week in relation to weather-affected games last weekend, this Carrick squad may yet qualify for the Connacht League semi-finals, which would be a fitting reward for all the effort and hard work of the last few months.

CARRICK RFC: Oran Oates, Jude Kennedy, Paudi Gilligan, Ryan Moran, Noel Dowd, Seamus McGuire, John Mee, Krystian Kopczynski, Ben McGarry, Jack Foley, Rory Connaughton, Cillian McGowan, Malachy Glover, Solomon Gleeson, John Mulvanerty, John Boyd, Timothy Tansey, Theo Gately, Eli Mulligan, Luke Sharkey, Ryan McGarry, Rory McNabola, Cavan McGourty.