Life in the first division saw Carrick Town FC travel to Dromore Villa who were undefeated last season and could have proved to be a potential banana skin for Carrick Town but Carrick Town produced 90 minutes of controlled football which saw them win by 3-0.

Carrick Town set their stall out and after 2 minutes a move that saw Dan Flanagan find Stevie Sirle who in turn found Niall Flanagan who returned the ball to Stevie and saw it go narrowly wide. Carrick Town employed the offside trap and frustrated the home side. After 12 minutes the afore mentioned three combined again and saw Stevie Sirle finish off a great move to make it 1-0 to Carrick Town. Dromore Villa tried to respond immediately but a great save by Adrian Rapski saw the score stay at 1-0. The pitch was good for Carrick Town to get the ball down and pass. With 10 minutes till half time Dromore Villa broke the offside trap, Adrian Rapski made a great block, the ball broke to Ian McGreevy who carried it to the half way line. His superb vision saw him push the ball down the channels for Stevie Sirle to run on and make it 2-0. For the remainder of the 45 minutes the strong wind blowing across the pitch did not deter Carrick Town and still continued to play football throughout.

At half time the management stressed to the players that the next goal was vitally important and Carrick Town expected Dromore Villa to come out with all guns blazing. Carrick controlled with their passing game with Gerry Moore tackling as if his life depended on it. He was a constant threat alongside “Redzer”. It took 25 minutes into the second half before Dromore Villa really had a shot in anger. Again a great run down the left hand side from Stevie Sirle saw him cross the ball to the edge of the six yard box for Dan Flannagan to make it 3 – 0 and make the game safe for Carrick Town. Carrick continued to play football and some of the Dromore Villa tackling portrayed this. Carrick Town introduced Shane Fitzpatrick, David Dockery and Paddy McGarry for Eddie Gray, Niall Flanagan and Stevie Sirle. The continuity in Carrick’s play was there for all to see. This was a superb performance with the back four totalling controlled by Ian McGreevy, although carrying a knock, was a giant in the heart of the defence. Gerry Moore was outstanding at right full back and Stevie Sirle with two brilliant goals and a superb range of passes was the icing of the cake for Carrick Town.
Team: Adrian Rapski, Gerry Moore, Willie Gallagher, Ian McGreevy, Simon Rapski, Niall Flanagan, David McTeirnan, Anthony O Toole, Eddie Gray, Dan Flanagan, Stevie Sirle.
Subs Used; Paddy McGarry, Shane Fitzpatrick and David Dockery.
Subs not used: Diarmuid McGarry, Jamie Preuss and Adrian McKeague
The new management team of Terry Beckett and Adrian McKeague are more than satisfied with Sunday’s performance.
Training continues on Wednesday night 7pm at the Showgrounds as we build up to next Sunday’s first home game of the season when we take on Chafpool Rovers