Dromore progressed to a Towns Cup semi final against Ballyclare next weekend following a 0 – 27 win at Carrick on a cold, wet and windy Saturday afternoon.
Given the conditions, this was always going to be an attritional game and Carrick’s chances weren’t helped when they lost a player to a red card in the opening minutes.
However the home side managed to repulse an early incursion from Dromore and they went on to set up camp in the visitors half for the bulk of the first 30 minutes.
Unfortunately for the home team they were unable to break down the Dromore defence and the Co Down side struck with two late tries to push the game firmly in their favour.
The influential Josh Pentland crossed out wide for their first, after a period of pressure in the Carrick 22, and minutes later Brian Mclearn crossed out wide to finish under the posts, after some nice interchanges down the right. Lee Steenson converted the second to give Dromore a 0 – 12 lead at the break.
Dromore added a third try shortly after the restart with Andrew Rutledge chasing down a grubber kick from David Lyttle to move the score along to 0 – 19, the third try taking some of the sting out of the game.
Carrick looked for a response but the heavy conditions, which worsened considerably, and playing the game a man short was beginning to take its toll and they struggled to get out of their own territory for the bulk of the second half.
As the rain eased off towards the end of the second half Dromore added a Settenson penalty before Rutledge and Lyttle combined once again for their final score, this time Rutledge catching a cross field kick to cross for a converted try.
