Photo above: Liam Kehoe of Kehoe Kars Newry presents the Man of the match award to Rubén Salas from LA Sand & Surf. Also in the photo is the match referee, Joe Callaghan.

by Denis McGuinness, Newry U19 Manager

On our final pre season fixture with LA Sand & Surf before the season starts, it was not all about the scoreline. The guys travelling from America wanted to explore Newry and get to know the players and the surroundings from the place in which their senior coach Carl Dickson was born and raised. They traveled from Belfast this morning and had a light training session before lunch which was kindly donated by Courtneys. Then they went into the city to do a bit of shopping with a few of our players until it was time to return for the match.

The match itself was a great experience for both teams but especially the LA lads as they said the Showgrounds stadium and pitch was the best they have ever played on. Although a friendly, the game itself was very much contested and turned into an excellent battle which remained a stalemate until the last five minutes.  Paul Hadden, who is the reserves first choice goalkeeper, finished the game off in the unfamiliar position of central midfield and won a good challenge before threading through the pass of the night to speedy Paddy O’Connell who very calmly slotted into the bottom corner to win the match for Newry.

Kehoe Kars Man of the Match tonight was LA Sand and Surf defender Ruben Salas who was excellent keeping our strikers at bay most of the game. The Newry Man of the Match was Kyle Mooney for making some excellent saves to keep a clean sheet and secure the win for his new club after signing from Warrenpoint Town, just a week ago.

I would also like to give thanks to Gerry Hillen, Barry Trainor, Mandy McGuinness, Joe Callaghan and Sean Gaffney for all their work today and for helping to make the occasion a huge success for the club, both on and off the pitch.

Finally congratulations to my squad tonight who represented Newry City AFC on the pitch and afterwards in a very professional manner.

See Video highlights from the match below (Courtesy of Ally McKenzie):

by Newry U19 Manager Denis McGuinness

Myself and my assistant Paul Torley been busy over the summer months scouting for new players  and we have been very fortunate to add no less than 17 new players to the squad. I believe we have now got a squad capable of competing in the upcoming Lisburn League, who are running an under 19 league for the very first time. The league is compiled of top clubs such as Linfield, Portadown and Ballymena.

As like Newry senior team, we are doing our best to move the club forward to try and get Newry City AFC back to the highest level possible. The newly formed u19s have had some really good challenges during the summer friendlies and put up superb performances against Glenavon and Bessbrook United senior side. But the quality shown recently when the lads beat Oxford Sunnyside 5-0, with one of the new signings Abdul Azeez scoring his first hat trick for the club, was outstanding and very promising for the season ahead. Also, already this summer six youth players have made their reserve team debuts and U19 player Shealan Fegan made his first team debut, which is great to see.

This Monday night (15th August) we are welcoming a team from Los Angeles California to the Showgrounds, who are over for a tour of Northern Ireland. It will no doubt be another good challenge for our lads and a great experience for both sides. Kick off is at 7:30pm.

Finally, I would like to thank our new team sponsor Kehoe Kars for their generosity and support for the forthcoming season.