Carricks Alan Ryan wins this heading duel with David Baxter (Hibs).

Carricks Alan Ryan wins this heading duel with David Baxter (Hibs).

Hibernians 0;   Carrick United 1

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Champions die hard. That was the case in Mitchel Kennedy Park on Sunday afternoon last. Last season’s Munster Cup winners had to fight all the way to get the better of a battling Hibernans team and it took a last minute goal by left full back James Walsh to put Carrick United through to the next stage of this seasons competition. Hibernians are capable of turning in good displays from time to time despite their mid-table position in the local Premier League and this was certainly one of their best performances of the current campaign. Carrick United badly missed the service of the Fitzgerlad brothers, Wayne and Thomas and they played second fiddle to their hosts for periods in this contest, but at the end of the day their experience told when it mattered most, at the tail end of a bruising contest on a bitterly cold day.