Carlisle celebrated the end of the North Lancs/Cumbria season with a 38-0 home win over Fleetwood.

There was a party atmosphere at Warwick Road as, after the game, Carlisle received the league champions’ trophy.

It was more sombre before the game when all the club sides congregated on the first team pitch to give a minute’s applause in honour of Ollie Armstrong, a former youth squad member, who sadly passed away at the age of 21 last week.

With the game kicking off early, to allow Fleetwood time to get back to their end-of-season bash, the visitors could quite easily have turned this into a non-spectacle, given this had no implications for either side’s league position.

However, Fleetwood were lively enough in the early stages, although had to be sharp to keep Carlisle’s back division at bay.

Carlisle fly-half Jason Israel had a couple of early chances to put points on the board from penalties but was unable to convert.

The first score came on 12 minutes after a Fleetwood line-out on their 22 was only cleared as far as Matty Roper.

With the ball spread wide right, full-back Robbie James was able to find the gap through the defence and score with Israel landing the conversion.

It was James who got the second try just before the half-hour-mark, when the ball was again quickly fed right, with winger Andy Glendinning providing the final pass for James to score his second.

From the restart, the Carlisle side quickly pushed up and just two minutes later, Israel was able to break the gain-line and round the Fleetwood defence for Carlisle’s third, pushing the scoreline to 21-0, where it would remain until half-time.

Fleetwood had a few more opportunities in the second half, and Carlisle had to be on their mettle to make sure they kept the whitewash intact, as the Green and Golds found their second wind.

However, the game was put to bed 10 minutes into the second half when, from the back of a scrum in the Fleetwood half, replacement No.8 Josh Holmes was able to dive over for the bonus-point try.

The best try of the day came just a few minutes later, when from deep within their own half, captain Tom Graham broke away from the back of a ruck, and fed a deft “Sonny Bill” to flanker Henry Wainwright, who had the legs to dive over in the left-corner, after running from the half-way line.

The final try came from centre Dan Holmes as he burst through the Fleetwood defence, to score under the posts.

With the hard conditions underfoot starting to create a number of injuries, particularly for the Fleetwood side, the referee then sensibly called time early, to signal the start of celebrations at Warwick Road.

It was a useful run-out for the side ahead of the Cumbria Cup final, and Carlisle were grateful to Fleetwood for honouring the league commitment, to allow a fitting end to the season.

The league trophy was presented on the pitch by the North Lancs Cumbria secretary Ian Scott-Brown.

Carlisle will play holders St. Benedict’s in the Cumbria Cup final at Aspatria on Tuesday, May 9.

Saints also had the opportunity of a run-out on Saturday when they were surprisingly beaten 35-21 at home by Altrincham Kersal, who as a result, were able to leapfrog them in the table.

The west Cumbrians still have to play Rochdale at home to complete the League programme in North One West but both are clear of relegation.