Patterson's hat-trick does the business
DETERMINATION: Darrach Patterson scored a hat-trick of tries for Carrick RFC against Ballina on Sunday last. Pictures: Mark Kelly
Carrick seniors entertained Ballina in the Connacht J1C League on Sunday last. The home side duly defeated the visitors in a very entertaining match, which was played in glorious sunshine.
Darrach Patterson scored in the fifth minute when he picked the ball up from a ruck and stormed over. Ruairi King added the conversion. King went on to convert two more penalties to leave Carrick 13-0 ahead.
Ballina replied with a peach of a try after 25 minutes when out-half Ronan Connolly, who was inside his 22-metre line, saw the oncoming blitz home defence and chipped the ball over the backline for Jack Scott to collect the ball from a favourable bounce to score after a wonderful mazy run, avoiding two attempted tackles from Carrick’s last line of defence.
Patterson went over for his second try after 35 minutes. Then, on the stroke of half time, a beautiful inside pass from Brian King, changing the direction of a Carrick attack, allowed Noel McDermott to gallop in under the posts, leaving the half-time score 25-5 in Carrick’s favour.
Early in the second half, Carrick gave away a series of silly penalties that allowed Ballina to mount a serious attack. Just when the Mayo side appeared certain to score, Stephen Guckian, with impeccable timing, intercepted on his own five-yard line to clear the danger.
Carrick continued to give away too many penalties, especially for high tackles, and, on 55 minutes, the referee ran out of patience and showed Ruairi King a yellow card.
But the yellow card only made Carrick more focussed. In the 60th minute, after sustained pressure by the Carrick forwards, Darrach Patterson got over for his hat-trick of tries to leave the score 30-5.
With nine minutes remaining, Patterson came to the attention of the referee again, but this time for all the wrong reasons and he was yellow carded for another Carrick high tackle.
With five minutes remaining, Ruairi King converted a penalty. Seán Murphy scored a consolation try for Ballina, which was converted by Ronan Connolly, to leave the final score 33-12.
This win gives Carrick an excellent chance to qualify for the J1C League semi-final but they will have to be more disciplined and improve on their tackle techniques as they simply gave away too many penalties.
Their defence will have to improve too, especially when conceding penalty kicks. The touchline will have to be covered efficiently and effectively so as not to concede cheap attacking lineouts.
On the plus side, the Carrick forwards hunted as a front eight should, preventing the Ballina pack from presenting fast ball to a dangerous backline laden with intelligent runners.
Next up is Creggs away and there is no reason for Carrick not to keep up their good work but discipline, especially in their tackling techniques, will be key for the remainder of this league campaign.
CARRICK RFC: Brendan Davis, Oisín Curley, Daniel Bosquette, Noel McDermott, Dean Flanagan, Brian King, Ruairi King, Ian Cullen, Brendan Flannery, Shane McGuinness, Declan Kelly, Peter Lavin, Dermot Foley, Seán Hynes, Darrach Patterson. Subs: Ian McGhee, Shane Sharkey, Roman Pulbere, Jack Price, Jason Carney, Denis McCaffrey, Robert McCaffrey, James Óg Maguire, Stephen Guckian, Emmet Doran.
By defeating Gort over the Christmas period by a scoreline of 58-17, the Carrick U-15s quali qualified for an away semi-final against Galway Corinthians on Sunday last.
They duly overcame the west of Ireland side with a superb victory. The brilliant support from parents and Carrick supporters made a massive difference in making this a home away from home fixture.
The Carrick boys were 17-5 down at one stage but they dug in. They now meet Dunmore in the final on January 21st.
