Newry City’s Irish Cup run came to an end on Saturday at a cold and blustery Larne when they were beaten 4-1 by Amateur League side Crumlin Star. The Newry side started the game slowly and were caught cold inside five minutes when a Newry attack broke down inside the Crumlin half and the home team broke at speed with five quick passes moving play into the Newry box before the ball was slotted into the net to put Crumlin one goal up.

The rest of the half was much more even with both teams having their share of possession without really threatening to score.

Newry started the second half much better than the first and almost equalized straight from the kick off with Chris McMahon and Graeme Edgar combining to release Niall Crilly who’s wind aided cross come shot had the Star keeper in all sorts of trouble as he stretched to fingertip the ball onto the cross bar, the rebound falling to a defender to clear.

Newry were now on the ascendancy and Crilly was again involved in Newry’s second good chance of the half when he found Jimmy Walker in space just outside the Crumlin box. Walker rolled his pass to centre forward Mark Patton who with his back to goal back heeled a defence splitting pass to Walker who had continued his run and now had only the home keeper to beat. Unfortunately Walkers low shot crashed into the keepers legs and rebounded to safety.

It was now Crumlin’s turn to regroup and this they did in style with two quick goals, the second of which was scored by Newry City’s ex Irish League player Francis Murphy, to put the home team 3-0 up.

Newry refused throw in the towel with manager Darren Mullen making substitutions to add some new impetus. This bore dividends within minutes when two of those newly added players combined to put Newry back in the game. Ian Curran found Neil Barr with a long throw in. Barr controlled the ball with his back to goal before spinning and unleashing a dipping shot from 25 yards out which flew into the top corner of the Crumlin net before the keeper had moved. Newry’s attempt at a comeback nearly got better two minutes later when the Crumlin keeper had to dive full length to the base of his post to save a shot from McMahon. However any hopes of a comeback were extinguished with five minutes left when Murphy’s second goal restored Crumlin’s three goal advantage which was more than a little harsh on Newry who competed well throughout with their more experienced opponents.

Newry City AFC Man of the Match: Mark Patton

Newry resume their league campaign on Saturday 14^th December away to Laurelvale at 2pm. Newry City AFC Travel Club bus will be departing from the Stonebridge at 1pm sharp, all are welcome!.

Newry City AFC Team: Murphy, Crilly, Anderson, Annett, McCaul, Edgar, McMahon, McElroy, Patton, Walker, Lundy. Subs: Curran, Martin, Barr, Campbell, Thompson, McVicker.

Name: Graeme Edgar.

Age: 22.

Occupation: Fireplace/Stove installer.

Previous Clubs: Portadown FC, Banbridge Town FC and Markethill Swifts FC.

Position: Midfield.

Footballing Hero: Steven Gerrard.

What are your interests outside of football? Socialising, shooting, watching different types of sport, motorbikes.

If you could take 3 celebrities to dinner who would they be and why? Lee Evans for a good laugh, George Best so he could show me how to dribble, shoot etc! And Megan fox. (You should know why)

What is the best ground you have played in? Windsor park.

What would you like to achieve by the time you hang up your boots? Scoring a goal would be nice! And to play a part in getting Newry back into the Irish league, picking up a few cups on the way!

Who is the joker of the team? Paul McElroy likes to laugh at his own jokes.

Who is the best at training? Christopher McMahon.

Who is the worst at training? Joel Annett.

Who has the worst dress sense? Stefan Martin.

One song that gets you pumped up for a match? Martin Garrix – animals.

Who is the best player you have ever played with? Richard Clarke (Portadown).

What one word would best describes you as a footballer? Competitive.

And finally…a word for the fans? They’re as good as an extra man on the pitch!

Newry City shared the spoils away to St Mary’s in Saturday’s league clash to stay top of the table and will look back at the match with mixed emotions having conceded an injury time equalizer. However, after a game of many missed chances by both sides a draw was probably the correct result and at the end of the season Saturday’s point may prove very useful to the Newry side.

Newry opened the scoring on the half hour mark with a beautifully constructed goal. David Anderson picked the ball up in his left back position and made ground to mid way inside the St Mary’s half before finding Shane Lundy wide on the left. Lundy took a touch to beat his defender and delivered a pin point cross to the penalty spot where Mark Patton rose between two defenders to bullet a header to the back of the net to put Newry 1-0 up.

This goal for Newry was sandwiched between three excellent scoring chances for St Marys. Awarded a free kick wide on the left St Mary’s winger Fay delivered a cross which took all of Joel Annett’s stature to head away from under his own cross bar. On 40 minutes a sweeping move down the St Mary’s right resulted in a deep cross which found Sean Brady at the back post, his volley smashing into the junction of the Newry post and cross bar. And Annett came to Newry’s rescue right on half time when he again cleared a high crossed ball from under his own cross bar to leave the half time score 1-0 in Newry’s favour.

Newry started the second half on the attack and created many chances which if converted would have secured the three points. Straight after the break Chris McMahon found Patton who with his back to goal laid the ball back to Jimmy Walker on the edge of the penalty area. Walker fired in a low shot which McKeever in the St Mary’s goal dived low to his left to deflect up in the air, the loose ball spiralling down towards the St Mary’s goal before being cleared off the line by a defender.

McMahon and Patton were at the heart of the next Newry chance, Patton winning a Murphy kick out which he deliberately nodded into the path of McMahon arriving at the edge of the St Marys box, McMahon’s first time shot narrowly off target.

St Mary’s also had their chances with Newry having goal keeper Murphy to thank for retaining the lead. First he had to dive full length low to his left to divert a shot from the edge of the box around his post for a corner. Then exposed by a poor pass out of defence which was intercepted on the half way line by a St Mary’s player who spotted Murphy off his line and flighted in a long range effort which forced the keeper to back pedal and twist in the air to tip the ball over his bar for a corner.

On the end of some robust tackling which drew only yellow cards from the referee, much to the annoyance of the away spectators, the Newry players remained disciplined and created a series of excellent chances in the final twenty minutes of the game all of which went unconverted.

Newry paid the price for these wasted chances deep in injury time when a scramble in the Newry box saw the ball fall to the feet of a home player who drove his shot to the back of the net to make the final score 1-1.

Against a strong St Mary’s team this was a hard won point for Newry who were best served by Man of the Match Paul McElroy who was strong and combative in his holding role in front of the defence.

Newry’s next match is on Saturday 7th December  at 13:30 hrs away to Crumlin Star in the Irish Cup. NCAFC Travel Club are running a supporters bus to the match which will leave the Stone Bridge at 11:15am sharp. 

Newry City AFC: Peter Murphy, Niall Crilly, David Anderson, Joel Annett, Conor McCaul, Graeme Edgar, Chris McMahon, Paul McElroy, Mark Patton, Jimmy Walker, Shane Lundy. Subs: Ian Curran, Neil Barr, Gary McVicker, Peter Thompson.

Photograph: Brendan Monaghan