Author: Sean McKevitt

Sean is an avid supporter of Newry City AFC and will be bringing you all the latest news from the club.

No Bessbrook Cup Final at the Showgrounds

Due to health and safety reasons, Newry City AFC regrettably cannot host the 2013 Bessbrook Cup Final on Boxing Day. It is anticipated that the match will be rescheduled to take place in the Showgrounds later in the season. The current problem is a result of damage caused to one of the floodlight pylons by the heavy winds during the past week.

NCAFC presents ‘Last Man Standing’

We are delighted to announce that we are running a Last Man Standing competition starting Saturday 11th January 2014! It’s £10 to enter and the last person left in the competition wins the jackpot, which will be a minimum of £300.

What are the rules?

1. It’s simple, just pick the winner of one English Premier League match each week. If your selection wins you progress to the next week, lose or draw and you’re out.

2. Once a selection is made, you will not have the ability to change it.

3. You may not pick the same team to win more than once during the tournament. So for example if you pick Man United in Game Week 1 and they win, then you can’t pick them for the rest of the competition.

4. Should you forget to make your selection in any week, you will automatically be assigned the highest placed team in the league that you haven’t already selected.

5. In the event that any match involving a team you have selected is postponed or cancelled for any reason, you will continue to the next round. That team will no longer be available for selection in future game weeks.

6. Buy backs will be available for the first two weeks of the competition. This means if you are knocked out in the first or second week of the competition you can buy yourself back in for £10. After the 2nd game week this option will no longer be available.

How to enter?

Entry can be obtained from any member of the Newry City AFC board, coaching staff and also through various senior players and supporters.

We also accept paypal payments. If you would like to enter this way then email your name along with your selections for Week 1 and Week 2 from the fixtures below to ncafclms@gmail.com. We will then give you details on how to pay the £10.

Week 1 Fixtures (11th , 12th and 13th Jan):
Hull v Chelsea
Cardiff v West Ham
Everton v Norwich
Fulham v Sunderland
Southampton v West Brom
Tottenham v Crystal Palace
Man Utd v Swansea
Newcastle v Man City
Stoke v Liverpool
Aston Villa v Arsenal

Week 2 fixtures (18th , 19th and 20th Jan):
Sunderland v Southampton
Arsenal v Fulham
Crystal Palace v Stoke
Man City v Cardiff
Norwich v Hull
West Ham v Newcastle
Liverpool v Aston Villa
Swansea v Tottenham
Chelsea v Man Utd
West Brom v Everton

Manager’s corner (16.12.13)

As we break for Christmas it’s nice to be sitting at the top of the league but we know there is a long way to go and a lot of tough games to be played. We have given ourselves a good chance of promotion but nothing is ever won at this stage and we will have to work harder than we’ve done already to achieve our goal. Our victories over Hanover and Moneyslane were hard fought but well deserved and although we only drew with St Mary’s it could prove to be a very valuable point. Their equaliser in the last few minutes was hard to take but they are as good a side as we’ve played in the league and will take points off other promotion rivals. Laurelvale also proved to be a hard side to break down with the conditions making it a tough day to play our usual passing game. Our winner in the last minute gave the lads a huge lift in our last game of 2013. The win was tarnished by Conor McCaul’s red card which was a ridiculous decision that didn’t warrant a yellow card never mind a red but it creates an opportunity for other lads to stake a claim.

Our exit from the Irish Cup was a game that we will have to learn lessons from. At 1-0 down we failed to take the chances that came our way and suffered the consequences against a more experienced and clinical Crumlin Star side. However as the only Mid-Ulster intermediate side in the fourth round it highlighted the progression that we have been making in our maiden season. This time last year there was no football being played at the Showgrounds so we are proud and delighted as a group to be representing the City once again. The committee, volunteers, coaching staff, players and fans deserve great credit for the time, effort and commitment that they have put in this year to get the club back on its feet. Great credit must also go to the youth and ladies teams for keeping the flag flying whilst we were preparing for our return.

Finally I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and hopefully a successful New Year. On behalf of the coaching staff and players I can assure you that everything will be done to try to bring success back to our club.

Yours in Sport

Darren