Author: Sean McKevitt

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

City accepted into Mid Ulster Intermediate B league

We are delighted to announce that Newry City AFC’s application to join the Mid Ulster Intermediate B league was officially accepted at a Mid Ulster committee meeting last night. Newry’s Reserve team’s application to play in the Mid Ulster Reserve Championship was also granted.

We spoke with City Chairman Martin McLoughlin this afternoon, who expressed delight at the news.

mid ulster logo“After what seems like an eternity, I am overjoyed to say football is on the horizon at the Showgrounds again. The Mid Ulster Intermediate B league is our starting point – it’s a tough league but a well structured and professional setup.

“It has been a long hard road back and now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. All credit must go to our Management Committee, Manager and his coaching staff”

He added, “I must also thank our main sponsor Around a Pound for their continued support and of course all of our other associated sponsors. I would also like to express our gratitude to our faithful fans for their continued support. I hope to see you all during pre-season and when we begin our new campaign.”

Newry City AFC Manager Darren Mullen echoed Martin’s sentiments.

“I am delighted that we have been officially accepted into Mid-Ulster Intermediate B for the forthcoming season. A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes for the past nine months and we can now look forward to what we hope will be a bright future.

” I would like to thank our committee who have worked tremendously hard and the members of the Mid-Ulster committee for their guidance in this process.

“The hard work on the training field has already begun with a good group of committed local lads who are keen to pull on the Newry jersey. All of the coaching staff will give the players every opportunity to progress. We know it won’t be easy but we will ensure that we will be hard to beat and are ready for the challenges ahead. I would also like to thank our fans for their
continued support and hope to see them supporting our new team throughout the seasons ahead.”

Newry are joined in the league by fellow newcomers  Dungannon Tigers and St.Marys Portadown while the other teams to make up the league are Banbridge AFC, Bourneview, Broomhedge, Hanover, Laurelvale, Lurgan Town, Moneyslane, Oxford Sunnyside, Richhill, Seagoe and Valley Rangers.

The league will commence on Saturday 3rd August although fixtures are yet to be released.

Senior team pre-season friendlies announced

Newry City AFC senior team will kick off their preparations for the coming season with six friendly fixtures in July. The pick of these is undoubtedly the home game with Cliftonville on Thursday 18th July. The Irish League Champions are bringing the league trophy to the Showgrounds in a game where all proceeds will be in aid of the Kevin Bell memorial fund.

The six friendly games are as follows:
Sat 13th July home to Ballybough Celtic FC (Dublin) at 2:30pm
Tues 16th July home to Banbridge Town at 7:30pm
Thurs 18th home to Cliftonville FC at 7:30pm
Sat 20th home to Armagh City FC at 2:30pm
Tues 23rd away to Dundalk XI at 8.00pm
Sat 27th away to Maynooth at 2:30pm

The full senior squad will be announced later this week after all signings are confirmed.

Darren rubs shoulders with the stars

Newry City AFC manager Darren Mullen last week successfully completed the first week of his UEFA B licence. He attended the course along with some well known faces…

Darren filling in Sky Sports' Guillem Balague on all of Newry City's transfer targets!
Darren filling in Sky Sports’ Guillem Balague on all of Newry City’s transfer targets!
Darren had time to squeeze in some French lessons on his course!
Darren had time to squeeze in some French lessons on his course!
Darren with Northern Ireland record goalscorer David Healy.
Darren with Northern Ireland record goalscorer David Healy.
Darren with his new amigo Mendieta.
Darren with his new amigo Mendieta.
Newry Showgrounds

Management Committee release statement

The Newry City AFC Management Committee have released the following statement regarding their recent decision not to ground-share with Warrenpoint Town FC for the 2013/2014 season:

The management committee of Newry City Athletic Football Club wishes to take this opportunity to respond to recent unfair and uninformed criticism over its decision not to share Newry Showgrounds with Warrenpoint Town in the forthcoming football season.

Newry City AFC has an excellent working relationship with Warrenpoint Town. In the season just finished the Newry management committee was happy to agree to a request from Warrenpoint to use the Showgrounds to play an outstanding Mid Ulster Cup match under lights. Within twenty four hours of Warrenpoint winning promotion, Newry sent a letter congratulating Warrenpoint on their promotion to the Danske Bank Premiership where we hope they do very well next season.

After a traumatic period, Newry City is in the process of rebuilding and we look forward to playing Warrenpoint Town in Premiership football one day.

Unfortunately, however, Newry are not currently in a position to ground share with Warrenpoint Town, or for that matter, with anyone else. The reasons are as follows:

• The playing surface at The Showgrounds would not stand up to the extra traffic in the Winter months that would occur as a result of groundsharing;

• In order to host Premiership football a licence is required. Newry Showgrounds does not have this licence because Newry City will now be playing intermediate football. The cost of acquiring such a licence runs to thousands of pounds;

• Newry Showgrounds is currently rated as an amateur ground. If it were to be rated for professional football this would increase Newry City’s rates bill by approximately 400%;

• The Showgrounds’ insurance premium would increase by approximately 100% if professional football were to be played there; and

• if groundsharing were to take place, there could also be potential difficulties around the scheduling of matches.

Yours in Sport

Newry City Athletic Football Club