Academy prove too strong for Carrick

After the demolition of Strabane and a full-blooded performance against Ballyclare in previous weeks, Carrick’s 1st XV lost 27-16 to Academy at Tom Simms Memorial Park last Saturday.
Carrick's Andy Kincaid gets to grips with his Academy opponent.Carrick's Andy Kincaid gets to grips with his Academy opponent.
Carrick's Andy Kincaid gets to grips with his Academy opponent.

It was a poor performance by the local side, up against 14 men for most of the game, after Academy lost their open side in the early stages. However, Carrick never managed to establish any sort of control, conceded two tries through poor defending and never really threatened the line apart from when kick chasing by the visitors allowed Aaron McKinney to score on the counter early in the second half.

For most of the Carrick players it was a game to forget; once again, it was the back row trio of Curtis Rea, Chris Ferris and Neil Marsden who performed best for the home side, although there was some strong driving play from second rows Andy Kincaid and Chris Rodgers and Luke Whitall again had a good game with the boot.

Carrick started well and took the lead with a Luke Whitall penalty after two minutes. This followed strong runs by Chris Rodgers and Kincaid leading to an Academy offence at the break-down.

The lead was short-lived and the visitors levelled the scores with a penalty of their own a few minutes later.

Academy then took the lead on 17 minutes when they won a scrum on the Carrick put-in inside the home side’s 22 and moved the ball left for their powerful inside-centre to break two tackles and go over. The try was not converted, but Carrick continued to make life relatively easy for the visitors by conceding a series of penalties and turnovers and with some fairly aimless kicking.

They did narrow the deficit with another Whitall penalty after 30 minutes but Academy hit back with with a pushover try five minutes later. This was converted to give the visitors a 15-6 lead. From the kick-off, a big hit by Ferris led to a penalty to Carrick which Whitall duly converted and the sides went into the break with Academy leading 15 - 9.

For the first seven minutes of the second half the visitors looked totally on top but, against the run of play, the home side took the lead in the eighth minute.

An Academy chip through the Carrick defence was chased much too tentatively by the visitors’ mid-field players and McKinney gathered and raced 50 metres to score under the posts. Whitall added the conversion points to put Carrick ahead by 16 points to 15.

After this, the home side had probably their best period of the match, having the majority of possession and making ground through some strong driving play by Kincaid and others. However, their one foray into the “red zone” ended with a penalty to the visitors.

With 16 minutes left, Carrick failed to deal with a high kick and Academy drove into their 22 , re-cycled and their inside centre again broke through at least two Carrick tackles to score. The try was not converted but the home side were now chasing the game and ended up turning the ball over in their one incursion into the visitors 22.

For the last few minutes, the visitors were on the attack and when Carrick tried to run from their own line they lost control of the ball and Academy pounced to score. This try was converted and the visitors held out comfortably in the remaining few minutes of injury-time for their deserved 27 - 16.

This was a poor performance by Carrick after the promise shown in the two previous games and they will be aiming for an improved display Grosvenor when they travel to Belmont to take on Grosvenor on Saturday.

Carrick: A. McKinney; N. Hastings, J. Cullen, J. Sheriff, B. Alexander; L. Whitall, K. Topping; E. Peacock, N. Hanna, R. Williams, A. Kincaid(Capt), C. Rodgers, N. Marsden, C. Ferris, C. Rea.

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