Carrick second best to dominant Randalstown

Carrick 1st XV were well beaten by a useful looking Randalstown team at Tom Simms Memorial Park on Saturday.

The final score of 37-24 to the visitors perhaps suggests a harder-fought game than it really was.

In truth, Randalstown, down to 14 men after 30 minutes because of an injury to one of their centres, dominated for long periods and in most aspects of the game.

Carrick’s brief flurry in the last quarter, which brought them two tries, never looked like turning into a miraculous comeback.

The home side were under pressure at the scrum, out-played by the powerful Randalstown pack in the loose and their talented backs were given too few opportunities, at least until it was too late, to display their attacking skills.

There were some good individual performances from Carrick. Andy Kincaid and Curtis Rea put in good second-half displays in the loose, Johnny Sheriff made some stylish line-breaks, and his goal-kicking was excellent in the difficult conditions, while Karl Love showed once again that he is a real attacking threat on the wing.

Overall though Carrick failed to use the (admittedly mixed) blessing of the breeze behind them in the first half and allowed the visitors to go into half-time with a 19-10 lead. Randalstown then made full use of the elements in the second half and, apart from a five-minute spell around the 65-minute mark, Carrick rarely looked like getting into the game.

The home side started brightly enough and took the lead with a Johnny Sheriff penalty after 10 minutes.

Five minutes later though they made a complete hash of a line-out on their own line and Randalstown gathered and dived over.

The try was not converted but, after 20 minutes, some good ball handling and driving by the Randalstown pack, and poor tackling by Carrick allowed the visitors to get in under the posts. This try was converted to give them a 12-3 lead.

In the 31st minute Carrick showed what they are capable of when a well-timed pass from Sheriff put Aaron McKinney in space and he in turn fed Karl Love who beat a covering defender to score in the corner.

Johnny Sheriff put over an excellent conversion to bring Carrick back to within two points.

However, with half-time approaching, the visitors, playing effectively with ball in hand into the breeze, again used their forward power to drive up to and over the Carrick line.

This try was also converted to give Randalstown a 19-10 half-time lead.

The visitors were totally dominant in the third quarter and ran in two more tries in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

The first of these was converted and they added penalties after 13 and 20 minutes of the half to take a 37-10 lead.

Going into the final quarter, Carrick at last began to establish some field position and, after two quick tap penalties, Andy Kincaid drove over for the home side’s second try.

This was converted by Sheriff and, just three minutes later, the out-half split the Randalstown defence and went in under the posts.

He again added the conversion points. However, this did not prove to be the start of a Carrick fightback and Randalstown finished out the game playing in Carrick territory as they had for most of the second half.

After the optimism following the away win at Larne, there is plenty for Carrick to reflect on before their next fixture away to Omagh on 29 September.

Carrick team: A. McIlroy; K. Jordan, A. Moore, A. McKinney(Capt), K. Love; J. Sheriff, G. Picken; A. Gibney, G. Baxter, E. McBrien, C. Rea, A. Kincaid, N. Hanna, R. Higgins, N. Greenwood.

Meanwhile, there was better news for Carrick Under-19s who beat Ballyclare 48-12 in their first match of the season.

Dean Henderson got a hat-trick of tries but Peter McFarland, on his Carrick debut, was named man of the match by head coach Stuart Hawthorne.

Fixtures for Saturday:

1st XV no match; 2nd XV vs Coleraine II (home); 3rd XV vs Dungannon IV (home); 4th XV vs Ards IV (away)

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