Carrick 3 Omagh 19

Carrick 3
Omagh 19
Fourteen points form the trusty left boot of fullback David Ward and a try by winger Andy McFarland saw Omagh home by 19 points to 3 in a very tricky encounter away at the Woodlawn, Carrickfergus. Nothing less than four points was needed to maintain the Accies title challenge and keep up with leaders Ballyclare, and while this is a very tough venue to come and win, Omagh were glad to take the points down the road.
Steven Lyons and Simon Monteith came into the side at loose head and hooker respectively and had very solid games, while Stuart McCain claimed the No. 10 berth following his return from injury with Lee Murphy joining him at half back.
“I am very pleased to come to Carrick and come away wit the points. I thought we were very solid througout, defensively we were excellent and collectivel y played well toghther”, revealed Accies coach, Phil Marshall after the match.
“The most pleasing thing was that we executed our game plan and the guys did what we talked about doing in the team talks. We controlled the ball and field position and it was a good professional performance all round”.
Omagh began the match playing into a stiff wind with the aim of keeping the ball tight and nullifying both the opposition and wind and then playing the match deep in the opposition half after the break. They carried this out perfectly and took the lead with a David Ward penalty inside the first five minutes.
The Accies then put in their best performance for a long time against Carrick by stopping them defensively and frustrating the home side. Carrick knocked on the door all half attempting to dominate up front but Omagh slammed the door behind them with the scrum in control and the lineout functioning well.This led to infringements which the visiots capitalised on by playing the lines and when in range taking shots at the posts. The home side failed to make use of what was a considerable breeeze.
Carrick missed a penalty chance late in the second half before converting in injury time at the end of the half. Half time 3-3.
“I knew that with our fitness and if we played sensibly by making full advantage of the wind and controlling the territorial battle we should go on to win, and that s what happened”, noted Marshall. Carrick could not cope with the ferocity of the defence and the discipline of the Accies. They played most of the half deep in the opposition 22, challenging the home side to go the length of the pitch to score. The Woodlawn men could not break down a well drilled defence and began to make errors and give away penalties which David Ward took advantage of, nailing three and converting a well worked try by Andy McFarland.
Omagh choked the life out of the game and ran out deserved winners by 19-3.
Very strong defensively, the Accies avenged the defeat at Carick the previous year and ensured they kept up their good form ahead of two tricky encounters, away at Lisburn next week before a Yuletide cracker at home to long term rivals, Enniskillen on the 21st December.
Mervyn Edgar may return to the panel next week depending on hom he reacts to a rib injury, while Louis Whitworth has returned to the Accies and will be added to the squad.

Team
David Ward, Andy McFarland, ryan Mitchell, alan Heaney, Alistair Beckett, Stuart Mccain, Lee Murphy, Steven Lyons, Simon Monteith, Mark Smyth, John Sproule, Mark Millar, Richard Harpur, Richard Smyth, Andrew Ferguson ©