Carrick Ladies hold high-flying Raphoe to a scoreless draw

Raphoe are currently enjoying an excellent run of form and sit second in Senior Two.

Carrick on the other hand, while having already done enough to guarantee their place in next season’s Senior Two grouping, have had a disappointing end-of-season run, securing only eight points from their last seven league fixtures.

When the two teams met earlier in the year, Carrick were under the cosh for virtually the entire game and, but for the heroics of goalkeeper Karen Nelson and a last-minute Ashley McConnell equaliser, they would have come away from Donegal with nothing to show for their efforts.

Raphoe clearly had this previous encounter very much in mind on Saturday afternoon as they sought to overrun their opponents right from the opening whistle.

But Carrick worked extremely hard all across the pitch to hold their ground and, as the game progressed, it became very much an equal contest with both sides closely matched in all areas.

This remained the case right throughout the first half and the second with goal scoring chances missed or saved at either end, the defences stubbornly holding their ground.

When the whistle finally blew to bring the game to a scoreless conclusion, Carrick were clearly the happier of the two teams, ending their home appearances on a reasonably high note by taking a hard-earned point from a match in which few neutral observers would have expected them to come away with anything.

Carrick Player of the Match: Lois Passmore.