Carrick RFC suffer heavy defeat at Cooke

As Carrick found it increasingly difficult to deal with their hosts’ multi-phase attacks, they ran in two tries in the lead up to half time followed by five more in a second half in which the visitors found it difficult to get hold of the ball and retain it for any meaningful period. This defeat leaves Carrick rooted to the bottom of the league table, six points adrift of Portadown and seven behind CIYMS whom they face this Saturday (October 28).

For Carrick there were few stand-out performances although full-back Fionn McCormack again impressed in defence and with his limited attacking opportunities as well as with his goal-kicking. With the scrum under pressure for much of the game, Ryan McGonigle coped well at No 8 in securing the ball on the Carrick put-in while his back row compatriot Jack Millar again showed up well in defence as did replacement hooker Richard Higgins and centre and Captain Adam White..

After going behind to a first minute penalty, Carrick hit back in the fourth minute when Adam White broke through in mid-field off quick ruck ball and fed Fionn McCormack who side-stepped a Cooke defender to score. The full-back converted his own try to give Carrick a 7 points to 3 lead which they held until the 25th minute when Cooke scored in the corner following a series of picks and drives before moving the ball wide.

The try was not converted and Carrick regained the lead five minutes later when Fionn McCormack converted a penalty to make the score 10 points to 8 in the visitors' favour. However, Cooke began to make inroads with their well drilled and dangerous backs benefitting as they got their multi-phase attacking game going.

Converted Try

They regained the the lead with a converted try in the 33rdminute and added another in the 40th minute. In first half injury time, Carrick did get on the scoreboard again when Fionn McCormack kicked another penalty, awarded after he had strongly run back a Cooke clearance kick. This left the half-time score at 22 points to 13 in the home side's favour.

The second half was pretty much one way traffic, with Carrick struggling to get field position and possession while Cooke mounted attack after attack, often from inside their own territory. Tries in the 45th and 55th minutes, both converted, took the game out of Carrick's reach and they followed up with three more scores in the final quarter, the last - which summed up Carrick's day - when they ran the ball from behind their own line ,following a rare Carrick attack , and scored under the posts at the other end.

Carrick did reduce the margin in injury time when Adam White went over in the corner following a series of picks and drives and Fionn McCormack converted with an excellent drop-kick. This left the final score at 57 points to 20 in Cooke's favour.

This weekend, Carrick entertain CIYMS at Tom Simms Memorial Park in what has become a must win game if they are to begin the process of getting themselves off the bottom of the table.

The Carrick team against Cooke was: F. McCormack; A. Hawthorne (M. Hansen), D. Carse, A. White (capt), K. Topping; G. McKeown, R. Higgins, K. Bell (P. Greenaway), M. Johnson (L. Patterson), C. Rodgers, D. Eyers, J. Millar, R. McGonigle.