Patience a virtue as Irish League club's 33-year senior trophy wait built by manager over two-month run
Having had to wait over 30 years for a taste of senior silverware, it’s safe to say Carrick Rangers know something about the value of patience.
Last week’s ToalsBet Senior Shield triumph over Cliftonville sparked celebrations at the Taylors Avenue outfit in keeping with the 33-year gap between top-level trophy joy for Carrick.
The man with the masterplan behind that prize reward – and positive overall progress since his October 2024 appointment – is veteran manager Stephen Baxter.
Although his 15-month run in the Carrick dug-out stands as a brief moment when stacked up against the club’s winning waiting game dating back to that Co Antrim Shield success in 1993, the highly-experienced boss also appreciates the merit of long-game thinking.
"It takes time...you've got to build it, you've got to work with it, you've taken a few hits in the chin along the way,” said Baxter after watching his players follow up the knockout glory with an impressive Premiership performance against Dungannon Swifts which delivered a 5-1 scoreline and three vital points in the fight against relegation, with Carrick now two clear of the drop zone and a game in hand. "But I knew the type of people that we had here and how they perform, what they do...when you know those personalities, you know they'll come through.
"There were a lot of wee niggly injuries at the start hampering us but now we've got them all back functioning well and it's coming together.
"Honestly, our football's been really good...we've been touch-tight with all the teams."
The Shield victory arrived between weekend league wins over Cliftonville and Dungannon – with Baxter going as far back as the latter stages of December for encouraging signs of his squad’s potential producing positives.
"So we had a talk around it, a few bits and pieces around what we needed and what we wanted,” said Baxter around the importance of avoiding any setback to that forward drive with a post-trophy celebration slump. "So I'm really pleased...let's just be keeping this momentum going."
The next opportunity for continued gains comes this weekend with a Saturday evening trip to Shamrock Park against a Portadown side sitting one spot above Carrick Rangers and two points clear in the Premiership standings.