Second-half rally not enough to prevent home defeat for Carrick RFC

Not for the first time this season, Carrick started badly and ended up leaving themselves with a virtually impossible task when things did begin to come together late in the first-half and during much of the second. After being 29 points to nil down approaching the half-hour mark, Carrick did manage to register a try before half-time and then in a much better second-half performance restricted Ballymoney to one try late on while scoring two more of their own.

There is no doubt that a string of injuries and the need for constant changes in personnel have had an impact on defensive organisation and other aspects of play and, again, Carrick eventually settled into some sort of cohesion as the game progressed.

It was mostly the ‘veterans’ who stood out for Carrick, with Ryan McGonigle once more the main ball carrier, and a major figure in defence, backed up by Paul Greenaway, Chris Rodgers and David Ferris when he came on. While the scrum struggled early on, matters were stabilised in the second-half with Gareth McKeown coming off the bench, and by the end Carrick had the dominant scrum.

Carrick had a disastrous start, going behind to a penalty after two minutes and then conceding a try virtually from the re-start. Their defensive woes continued when Ballymoney scored again in the tenth minute to leave Carrick 17 points to nil down and seemingly having little answer to the attacks mounted by the well drilled visitors.

With Ballymoney continuing to dominate, despite the odd Carrick foray into their 22, the bonus point try for the visitors came in the 25th minute and, with the conversion, this extended their lead to 24-0. A fifth try followed a few minutes later before Carrick finally got themselves into a threatening position with a penalty kick to touch five metres out from the Ballymoney line. The attempted catch and drive led to another penalty and this time the home side drove over the line with Paul Greenaway getting the touch-down.

Better Organised

The try was not converted leaving the score at 29 points to 5 in favour of the visitors. In the remaining minutes of the half, the visitors mounted a series of attacks but a by now much better organised Carrick defence kept them out and there was no further scoring until the break.

Carrick started the second-half well, going through a series of phases following a scrum before out-half Fionn McCormack stepped his way over for a try. McCormack added the conversion himself to to make the score 29-12 in the visitors' favour. There then followed a half of rugby which was much more even than the first, with both sides having chances to add to their scores, but with Carrick's defence now much more solid.

In the 70th minute it was Carrick who finally got the break through when substitute scrum-half Conor Cambridge touched down following a strong scrum, a charge by Ryan McGonigle and a series of picks and drives close to the Ballymoney line. The try was not converted and the visitors had the final say when they went over in the 79th minute following a series of phases close to the Carrick line to make the final score 34 points to 17 in Ballymoney's favour.

Next up, Carrick travel to Belmont to face CIYMS, one of the two teams Carrick has beaten this year in an early season Junior Cup encounter. If Carrick are to have any chance of avoiding relegation, it is games like this they will have to win.

The Carrick team which faced Ballymoney was: M. Hansen; J. Hutchinson, D. Carse, A. White (Capt), S. White; F. McCormack, K. Topping (C. Cambridge); K. Bell (G. McKeown), D. McArthur, P. Greenaway, M. Johnson (D. Ferris), C. Rodgers, S. Shaw, A. Boyce, R. McGonigle.