Newry City will look back on Saturday’s game in Fivemile Town as points which were thrown away. On a poor sloping pitch Newry chose to play against the gradient in the first half and with 40 minutes gone were very comfortably sitting a goal to the good. However by the time referee Porter blew for half time Newry were getting beat 2-1 and to make matters worse were down to 10 men.

With Captain McMahon buzzing about middle of the field and centre forward Mark Patton winning every ball which was knocked forward Newry dominated the opening period but had to wait until the 27th minute to open the scoring through a goal crafted by Niall Crilly. Receiving the ball in his right back slot Crilly advanced into the opposing half, played a one two with Mark Lowry before swinging in a low cross, out of the reach of the home defence but perfect for Patton who planted his first time shot past Crawford to give Newry a deserved lead. As often happens a team is most vulnerable after scoring and Fivemiletown almost equalized minutes later, first when McDowell shot from outside the box, his effort bravely deflected wide by the head of Paul Donegan and then from the resultant corner, Murphy alert to smother the cross at his near post. Newry weathered this flurry and appeared content to play the half out but committed the cardinal sin on 40 minutes when passing the ball along the back line, the ball nicked away by Carroll who now with only Murphy to beat gave the Newry keeper little chance as he tucked the ball into the corner of net. Rattled by this Newry compounded the error by allowing Fivemiletown’s Johnston a free header at the back post from a 43rd minute corner, the big defender making no mistake bulleting his header into the roof of the Newry net to put his side 2-1 up. And if the travelling support thought things couldn’t get any worse they were soon proved wrong when referee Porter was quick to brandish a harsh second yellow card of the day at Donegan for a simple trip which left the visitors with 10 men and up against it in the second half.

However in his half time team talk Newry manager Darren Mullen would have been able to point out to his team that for the majority of the first half there was only one team in the game and Newry certainly had a renewed vigour to start the second period with Mark Lowry’s speed giving the home defence problems. This avenue bore fruit on 56 minutes when Lowry was cut down inside the box by Anderson, referee Porter baulking at issuing a red card even though the defender was clearly the last covering player. When Sean Hand blasted the penalty home it looked as if Newry were right back in the game. However the comeback was short lived as on 66 minutes Newry were once more caught out defending a corner, this time Gillispie rising unchallenged to head past the defenceless Murphy. And try as Newry might to get back into the game for a second time the loss of Donegan plus injuries to McMahon and Johnston had given them too much to do and Fivemiletown hung on to the victory. Speaking after the game Mullen was clearly despondent with his teams display “It’s a very frustrating result as it was a game we were a goal up and coasting. However individual errors and indiscipline have cost us again. We’ve been missing seven players for our last two defeats and clearly we need to strengthen the squad and that’s something I’m working very hard on. Hopefully we will have a few fresh faces over the next week or so”.

Newrys next game is on Saturday 10th January at home to Broomhill, kick off 2pm.

Newry City AFC: Murphy, Crilly, O’Connor, Donegan, Martin, Hand, Walker, McMahon, Patton, Smyrnaginas, Johnston Subs: Lowry, Barr, Edgar.

“Just not good enough” was how Newry manager Darren Mullen summed up his team’s performance after Saturday’s defeat away to league leaders Ballymacash Rangers on Saturday.  In a game where they found themselves a goal down in the first few minutes, a man down in the opening minutes of the second half when Kenny Kearns was sent off and with goal keeper Peter Murphy pulling off some fine saves to keep the deficit to just the one goal Newry had a glorious chance to snatch a point with the last kick of the game when Keith Johnston found himself inside the box with just the Ballymacash keeper to beat, the ball bobbling horribly in front of the Newry striker as he was about to pull the trigger. However it would have been a point which Mullen conceded his team would not have deserved given their performance “We can blame suspensions, injuries, some poor refereeing but simply it’s a game which we didn’t threaten enough in and therefore didn’t deserve much out of. Sometimes you have to grind out results and we have not been able to do that this season.”

Newry got off to the worst possible start when a simple through ball cut the central defence open giving the Ballymacash centre forward Kenny Campbell a shooting opportunity from the edge of the box which he took with ease placing his shot wide of Murphy to put the home side an early goal up. In a half short of goal mouth incident Newry didn’t register a shot until the half hour mark when a long Niall Crilly pass released Johnston down the right wing from where his first time shot skimmed over the Ballymacash crossbar.  Campbell was giving the Newry defence all sorts of trouble and again slipped the defence on the 33^rd minute, Murphy quickly off his line to narrow the shooting target and then dive to his left to push Campbell’s goal bound shot around his post. The nearest Newry came to scoring was from a free kick on 40 minutes after Johnston was taken down level with the edge of the penalty area, Kearns dead ball strike going right across the face of the home goal without the touch needed to put it into the net.

A blow at the start of the first half to go an early goal down Newry suffered a self inflicted wound early in the second when Kearns was shown a yellow card for an unnecessary foul in the middle of the park which was immediately followed by a second yellow and so a red card for remarks to the referee.

At this stage Ballymacash had their tails up and Newry were to rely heavily on Murphy to keep them in the game as first he tipped a James Guiney free kick over his cross bar followed by two excellent saves, diving low to push shots around his post on both occasions to deny Campbell a second goal.

In a bid to revive his team Mullen introduced Lowry, Barr and Walker during the 2^nd half and the plan almost worked as Newry did get some strikes on goal in the final quarter of the game. On 70 minutes Barr received a throw in inside the opposition penalty area and closely marked by two defenders managed to turn and from the by line pull the ball back to Sean McMullan who was unfortunate to see his snapshot from the penalty spot deflected over the crossbar. On 82 minutes it was Barr’s chance to grab the equalizer as he received a Lowry pullback from the opposite side of the Ballymacash goal but in a packed penalty area Barr was forced into a first time shot which flashed the wrong side of the post. All of this preceded that last minute chance which fell to Johnston. Released by a long Conor McCaul pass Johnston had an unopposed run onto the ball with only the keeper to beat, alas it was the uneven surface which was to be decisive, the ball bobbling up and off the Newry man’s shin running harmlessly wide of the goal, in that moment encapsulating Newry’s day.

Newry team: Murphy, Crilly, McCaul, Patton, Edgar, Durnin, McMahon, Kearns, McMullan, Johnston, Smyrnaginas. Subs: Walker, Barr, Hastewell, Lowry, Crummy.

After two cup defeats Newry City took the chance of a return to league action securing a comprehensive victory over Seapatrick in Banbridge on Saturday. Having already enjoyed two four goal victories over their opponents this season Newry started Saturday’s game full of confidence and were on the offence from the kick off with the Seapatrick defence forced to concede a corner to deny Mark Patton a scoring chance after only 20 seconds. With McMahon, Kearns and the debutant Smaryginas winning the midfield battle Newry continued to dominate early possession but faced with some stout home defending the visitors struggled to create many clear chances, McMullan heading over a David O’Connor cross while Aaron Brilly was unlucky that his headed effort at the back post from a Smaryginas cross went across the face of the goal without getting the touch necessary to deflect it over the line.

However, with the twin striking partnership of Patton and Sean McMullan working well it always looked to be only a matter of time before the goal came. When it eventually did arrive on the half hour mark it was from an unexpected source. McMullan received a throw in inside the Seapatrick box and with his back to goal flicked the ball into the path of Ian Curran arriving into the box, Curran making a few yards before poking his shot past McGrath in the Seapatrick goal to break the deadlock. Newry almost doubled the advantage soon after the restart, Patton taking the ball down the left wing before squaring his pass along the edge of the box from where McMullan’s first time shot fizzed wide. At the back Donegan was winning everything in the air but the next chance showed that there is much more to his game, as he intercepted a Seapatrick attack before taking the ball out of his own half, side stepping several challenges and then cutting the Seapatrick defence open with a pass which gave Patton a one on one with McGrath, the goalkeeper winning the battle blocking Patton’s shot with his legs. Just before half time the home side were further indebted to McGrath, McMahon and Kearns linking up to find Smaryginas in space outside the box, the debutants shot bringing the best out of McGrath as he flung himself to his left to tip Smaryginas’s shot round his post to keep his side just the solitary goal down at half time.

The second half began much like the first with Newry creating chances but unable to get that vital second goal. First to threaten was Donegan who rose highest at the back post to thunder a header off the cross bar with McGrath beaten. Next Kearns whipped in a free kick from the left wing which flew across the face of the goal without getting the touch necessary to cross the line and finally Smaryginas overlapped McMullan before laying the ball back to the striker who shot wide when well placed. The pressure simply had to tell and again it was McMullan and Curran involved. Clever as ever McMullan showed short for a corner kick. With his back to goal the big man juggled the ball before looping it over his head to the penalty spot where it was met by Curran who flicked it into the Seapatrick net with the deftest of volleys.

With the safety of that second goal Newry moved up a gear scoring three goals in ten minutes. On 75 minutes McMahon, who had led his team by example throughout, won the ball in midfield before finding Smaryginas wide on the right. Smaryginas took the ball to the end line before crossing low to the near post where Keith Johnston met it first time to slam the ball past McGrath for goal number three. Number four soon followed, David O’Connor slipping a pass through the defence for speedster Johnston to run on to, the winger having time to pick out McMullan who from about the penalty spot whipped his shot to the Seapatrick net for goal number four. The final goal of the game was perhaps the best. Curran swung a free kick across the pitch to Niall Crilly in the right back slot. Crilly immediately attacked the space in front of him taking the ball inside the Seapatrick half before finding Smaryginas. Smaryginas knocked the ball forward to Johnston who from the edge of the box laid the ball into the path of Crilly who had continued his run forward and now inside the box calmly slotted his shot into the bottom corner of the net to round of the scoring with goal number five.

In a game in which Newry had standout performances from Donegan and McMahon the star of the show was undoubtedly Paulis Smaryginas who belied his debutant status with a seasoned performance which pleased his manager Darren Mullen “Paulis had a terrific  debut and could become an important player for us. We started off at a terrific pace and could have been two goals up very early but after that we struggled to create anything for a time. Ian’s goal settled us and we were a lot better in the second half. It was also pleasing to see the substitutes having an impact today with Keith and Niall scoring. After two cup defeats it was certainly good to get league points”

Newry’s next match is next Saturday 6^th December away to Portstewart in the Irish Cup. Travel club bus will leave the Stonebridge at 10:15hrs.

Newry City AFC: Murphy, O’Connor, Curran, Donegan, McCaul, Kearns, Smaryginas, McMahon, Brilly, Patton, McMullan Subs: Johnston, Crilly, Durnin, Edgar, Barr.

Photographs courtesy of Brendan Monaghan Photography.

Newry City made the long journey to Ballinamallard on Saturday to take on the Irish Leagues side’s reserve team in the Intermediate Cup. Against a team made up of reserves and a sprinkling of first team players the Newry boys were still in the game until the last 20 minutes after which the Mallards took control running out 3-1 winners.

On one of the best grass pitches in the country it was soon evident that home team were intent on stroking the ball about with the visitors seeing little of the ball in the opening phase. However it was not until the 15^th minute that the home team made the possession pay when Johnny Courtney picked out Steve Feeney who had ghosted in between the Newry central defence to power his header past Peter Murphy to put the Mallards one goal up. The Newry response was positive as they also discovered the pass and move brand of football which they display every week. And they also got the reward of a goal on the half hour mark although initially it looked as if the chance had been wasted. Ian Curran pitched a long pass towards Sean McMullan on the edge of the box, the big man nodding the ball into the path of his partner Keith Johnston who was unlucky to see his dinked shot tipped wide by Jordan Coulter in the Mallards goal. However the chance was not lost as the resulting corner made its way across the face of the goal to Neil Barr at the back post from where he blasted past Coalter to bring Newry level at half time.

Newry started the second half in the ascendancy with young Josh Durnin looking very much at home in the centre of midfield. Indeed it was Durnin who almost created the first opening of the half receiving the ball from Johnston and then laying the ball back into his path unfortunately just out of his team mates reach with the Ballinamallard goal gaping. At the other end Newry relied on a perfectly timed sliding tackle from Conor McCaul to snuff out a break by Courtney.

Barr almost doubled his and Newrys goal tally on 65 minutes when he received a throw in inside the Mallards box and with his back to goal spun his marker and fired a low shot across Coalter which the keeper did well to grasp at the second attempt.

Play swung immediately to the other end with Newry fortunate not to concede twice inside a minute. First, with the Newry players calling for what looked like an obvious push on the back of Ian Curran, Feeney showed his experience making the most of the momentary hesitation drilling in a low shot which Murphy dived low to his left to push around the post. The Mallards kept the pressure on from the corner which followed, Newry grateful to McMullan who also showed his experience to hover behind his defence to be in position to clear the ball from the line when a Mallards goal looked likely. The reprieve was temporary however as Feeney rose highest to nod home the corner which followed. And although Curran forced Coalter into a save from a snap shot on 78 minutes the rest of the game belonged to the home side who closed the scoring with minutes remaining when James McKenna broke down the right wing and swung in a low cross which was just out of Murphy’s reach but fell into the path of Ollie Russell who finished at the back post to leave the final score 3-1.

Newry are back to league business next Saturday 29^th November when they travel to play Seapatrick, KO 2:15pm. Newry City supporter’s bus will leave the Stonebridge at 1:30pm.

Newry City AFC: Murphy, O’Connor, Curran, McCaul, Donegan, McMahon, Walker, Durnin, McMullan, Barr, Johnston Subs: Crilly, Patton, Brilly, Smarygiaas.