Connacht glory for Carrick RFC

Carrick RFC captain Brendan Flannery lifts the Cup Picture: Mark Kelly

placeholder image — Carrick RFC captain Brendan Flannery lifts the Cup Picture: Mark Kelly

Connacht Junior 1C Cup Final: Carrick RFC 20-18 Tuam 2nds

Carrick RFC ticked off yet another milestone last Sunday when they came from behind to defeat Tuam seconds in the Connacht Junior 1C Cup Final in Creggs RFC, sparking off wild celebrations for the Leitrim based club.

Carrick started the match brightly with Gerard Murtagh finding space out wide to cut through the Tuam defence to score a try under the posts, duly converted by Ruairi King.

Carrick dominated possession for large parts of the first 20 minutes but Tuam held firm after the concession of Murtagh's try and slowly got into the match when successful with a penalty kick. Tuam maintained the pressure and had their hard work rewarded with a try scored wide with the resultant conversion missed.

Tuam did not let up and Carrick were under immense pressure. Dermot Foley was in the thick of the Carrick defence and were holding out but then Carrick went down to fourteen men after Patrick Charles was yellow carded. Tuam took full advantage to score their second try, converted, to leave the half time score 15-7 to Tuam.

Gerard Murtagh crosses the line for Carrick's first try Picture: Mark Kelly

Carrick came out in the second half with renewed vigour and with some huge carries from Shane McGuinness, Peter Lavin, Darrach Patterson and Robert McCaffrey opening up the Tuam defence, the relentless pressure led to Tuam coughing up a penalty after another massive carry from Peter Lavin.

Ruairi King scored the points and shortly after Carrick were rewarded another penalty which King slotted home to leave the score 15-13.

Then after some great work from the now dominant Carrick pack, the ball was transferred quickly from Ian McGhee into the hands of Patrick Charles at pace and he carved through the Tuam defence, scoring under the posts, 20-15 to Carrick after the easy conversion by King.

Tuam weren’t finished and kept fighting hard and kicked a penalty. The game was finely balanced when Carrick went down again to fourteen men after Shane McGuinness was yellow carded.

The Carrick management brought in Liam McNamee & Jack Deegan to replace Declan Kelly & Brendan Flannery who both had excellent games. Carrick put a huge shift in defence in the final ten minutes, Sean Hynes, Noel McDermott, Brendan Davis and Dean Flanagan making some great tackles to hold out for the final whistle to lift the Connacht J1C cup.

Huge credit to the management team of Stephen King, Tom McGuinness and Brady White, the entire Carrick squad and the brilliant Carrick support on the day.

Squad: Patrick Charles, Brendan Davis, Gerard Murtagh, Dean Flanagan, Ian McGhee, Ruairi King, Robert McCaffrey, Brendan Flannery, Shane McGuinness, Declan Kelly, Peter Lavin, Dermot Foley, Sean Hynes, Darrach Patterson, Jack Deegan, Ian Cullen, James Og Maguire, Liam McNamee, Stephen Guckian, Jason Carney, Brian King, Denis McCaffrey, Nicodemus Adams

U13: Carrick U13s take on Buccaneers next Sunday at Dexcom Park in the Connacht final, kick off at 12pm. Let's hope for a big turn out to support the Carrick young guns.