Cooke’s late sting in the tale for courageous Carrick

The visitors appeared to have the match under control by early in the second half when they led 26-10. However, a Carrick fight-back reduced the deficit to just four points but the hosts could not break down a well organised Cooke defence and, with just minutes remaining, conceded the try which resulted in a 33–22 win for the visitors.

Starting well, Carrick took the lead after 10 minutes when they shoved the visitors' scrum off the ball at a 5-metre scrum and Ryan McGonigle drove up to the line and set up a ruck from which Adam White dived over. Fionn McCormack added the conversion points. Carrick went further ahead in the 26th minute when Fionn McCormack put over a penalty kick from the Cooke 10 metre line to give the home side a 10-0 lead.

However, Cooke totally dominated the game in the last 10 minutes of the first half, scoring three tries, two of which started from inside their own half, with backs and forwards handling, and the third came after a line-out catch and drive. Two of the tries were converted to give the visitors a 19-10 half-time lead.

The visitors seemed to have wrapped the game up in the 50th minute when one of their centres raced through the Carrick defence to score near the posts. The conversion gave Cooke a 26-10 lead but not control of the match because, despite the wind at their backs, they found it difficult to gain a foothold in Carrick territory and it was the hosts who had control of the game for a 15 minute period. They reduced the deficit to 26-15 in the 54th minute when centre David Carse picked up a loose ball on the Cooke 22, was stopped short of the line but won his side a penalty which they tapped and Carse then side-stepped his way over the line out wide on the right. Fionn McCormack could not convert.

Soft Pass

Carrick scored their third try in the 62nd minute with a well constructed move started by a soft pass from Adam White to put David Carse into space; the centre made ground into the Cooke 22 and give a return pass to White who ran strongly to score near the posts. The conversion reduced the deficit to just four points.

However, Carrick could not make any further dents in a solid Cooke defence.

For Carrick, centres David Carse and Adam White had excellent games, with the former breaking the line on a number of occasions and the latter carrying and tackling strongly. Up front, the back row was again impressive, with open side Ross Marsden being particularly prominent in defence and attack. Ryan McGonigle as always carried strongly while Cormac McCracken made a nuisance of himself in the line-out on Cooke's throw as well a being Carrick's "go to" man on their own throw. The front five, while under pressure in the scrum at times, contributed significantly in both attack and defence, with Adam Gibney particularly prominent as a carrier.

Next game sees Carrick travel to City of Derry.

The Carrick team which faced Cooke was: F. McCormack; J. Hutchinson; D. Carse, A. White, M. Black (T. Bailey); D. Curley, S. White; G. McKeown (Capt), A. Whitley, A. Gibney (R. Pruess), L. Patterson, J. Mooney, C. McCracken, R. Marsden, R. McGonigle.