McGhee the hero as Leitrim’s Carrick Rugby stun Ballinrobe​

Carrick on Shannon travelled to Ballinrobe last Sunday for their Curley Cup opener, knowing they were up against it. Carrick, a J1C side, were facing Ballinrobe, a J1B team, and the home side were well fancied for the win.

The visitors hadn't read the script. Carrick started brightly, moving the ball well through excellent passages of play, backs and forwards combining and mixing it up nicely. Their pressure paid off after twenty minutes when Ian McGhee found a hole in midfield and darted through to score under the posts, converting his own try.

Ballinrobe hit back from the restart, chipping over the top for their winger to run onto and score under the posts. But Carrick didn't drop their heads, and a carbon copy of the first try followed, McGhee again finding a hole to touch down, adding the extras. With powerful carries from Peter Lavin and Robbie McCaffrey driving them deep, Shane McGuinness squeezed over for Carrick's third, McGhee converting all three for a 20-7 half-time lead.

Ballinrobe started the second half brightly, but Carrick's organisation in defence kept them at bay with some great last-ditch work. Eventually the home side moved the ball wide quickly to score in the corner, converted, before another converted try brought it back to 28-21.

Carrick pushed on. Strong carries from John Healy and Declan Kelly took them deep, and from a quickly worked lineout the ball reached Brendan Flannery, who went over for Carrick's fifth. Ballinrobe responded with another try, but Denis McCaffrey gathered a lineout and evaded several players to crash over for Carrick's sixth. Ballinrobe hit back once more to make it 40-35 with three minutes left.

From the kickoff, Carrick pressed hard and forced a penalty, which McGhee, capping a man-of-the-match display, slotted to stretch the lead to 43-35. With thirty seconds left, Carrick gathered the restart and kicked the ball out of play to seal a famous win.

Team: Robert McCaffrey, Brendan Flannery, Shane McGuinness, Declan Kelly, Peter Lavin, Gareth Barry, Denis McCaffrey, Stephen Guckian, Justin Farrell, Ian McGhee, Nicodemus Adams, John Healy, Joseph Kron, Mahon Meldrum, Michael Farrell. Replacements: Aleksei Mzhachev, Brady Whyte, Gavin McWeeney