Injury hit Carrick RFC fall to clinical Ballinasloe

In glorious conditions for rugby football and in front of a large crowd including a great number of supporters from the Shannonside region, Carrick senior men's team faced the daunting task of taking on Ballinasloe RFC in the Connacht Junior 1C league final at Creggs RFC last Sunday.

Unfortunately for Carrick they lost the highly influential Sean Hynes to injury before kick-off with Declan Kelly standing into the breach. However this did not prevent Carrick from starting the game with real gusto and carried the fight to their opposition from the outset with Noel McDermott in particular leading the attack from midfield which some huge carries into the Ballinasloe defence.

Carrick were on top in the forward exchanges with captain Brendan Flannery, Shane McGuinness and the veteran Darrach Paterson particularly influential in the early exchanges. 

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Carrick were getting the edge at scrum time, however Ballinsaloe were resolute in defence and showed great resolve to stem the tidal wave of massive Carrick carries. On 16 minutes Carrick lost the leadership of McGuinness to an ankle injury, however after treatment he did return to have a major influence on proceedings on the half hour.

Peter Lavin, in particular, was having a highly effective outing yet again. However on 28 minutes and after a series of infringements by the Carrick men, Ballinasloe scored under the posts and with the conversion added Ballinasloe took a seven point lead against the run of play. 

Carrick then lost Lavin to a sin bin on 30 minutes and the Galway side added three more points from a penalty to leave 10 points between the sides. 

The major turning point of the game came on the stroke of half time when with the Carrick men encamped inside the Ballinasloe 22 metre line, a wayward pass was intercepted by the Ballinasloe hooker who raced for the line for what looked like to be a certain try. 

Jason Carney showed remarkable pace to halt the Ballinasloe No 2. However from the resulting ruck the Galway side scored under the posts to leave the score at halftime 17-0, clearly not a reflection on the first half proceedings.

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Carrick showed great determination on the resumption of the second half with John Healy having a real influence on the game from outhalf and Declan Kelly the late replacement for Hynes having a very strong outing. 

On 42 minutes, Carrick will be particularly disappointed to have allowed the Galway side to extend their lead after some missed tackles. However to their immense credit they continued to play with Dean Flanagan having an excellent game in defence. 

On 73 minutes and after a series of carries near the Ballinasloe line, Patterson scored to leave the final score 24-5.    

Carrick have one final outing as the play Loughrea RFC in two weeks’ time to see who earns the right to join Ballinasloe in the Connacht J1B League next season.

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Carrick: Jason Carney, Dean Flanagan, Stephen Guckian, Noel McDermot, Aaron Sharkey, John Healy, Ruairi King, Ian Cullen, Brendan Flannery, Shane McGuinness, Peter Lavin, Patrick McKeon, Sean Hynes, Denis McCaffrey, Darrach Patterson. Subs: Dermot Foley, Declan Kelly, Robert McCaffrey, Paul Orr, Justin Farrell, Kieran Murray, Jack Price and Conor Lyons