by Colm Murphy, Newry City U14 Manager
Newry U14’s had their first home game since August at the Showgrounds on Saturday against Rockview United. The game started slowly and it was Rockview who started the brightest and should have taken an early lead. It was three weeks since Newry’s last game and their lack of match sharpness showed in the first half. After a few positional switches due to an injury Newry eventually began to show some of the form that has taken them to the top of the league. A great through ball from Sean Mc Conville set Captain for the day and birthday boy Nathan Crudden away and he struck a sweet shot past the advancing ‘keeper to put Newry one up. Sean McConville and Tiarnan Murphy both came close shortly after this but the Rockview ‘keeper was having a fine game keeping his side just that one goal behind going in at half time.
The second half saw Newry attack from the start and after some great work on the wing by Caolan Reavy and Tiarnan Murphy, the ball found its way to Matthew Treanor who finished clinically to put Newry two goals up. Newry didn’t have to wait long until goal number three, another through ball by Murphy lead to the third with Sean McConville getting back amongst the goals with a nice shot to the far corner. Shortly after the same player made it four nil after a similar move to put the result beyond any doubt.
Credit must go to a hard working Rockview team whose league position doesn’t justify the way this team plays. No doubt they will give many teams a hard game this season. As for Newry, it took a while for the lads to get moving but eventually they showed why they are top of the league and credit to all the squad for a hard working team performance. This result leaves the team with a very healthy 22 points from a possible 24.