by Colm Murphy, Newry City U14 Manager

On Saturday last Newry Under 14’s had a home match against Ballyvea in the U14 league championship. After a heavy nights rain the pitch was surprisingly in good condition.

Newry started the game slowly but eventually got their foot on the ball and started to pass the ball around. Despite 70% of possession Newry found it hard to break down the Ballyvea defence who had come with a game plan of trying not to concede any goals. Just before half time Newry opened the scoring with a Joseph Connolly goal after some great work from fellow team mates.

The second half opened brightly for Newry after a stern team talk from the management and it wasn’t long before Shea Morgan added Newry’s second goal with a well placed shot. Newry’s passage of play seemed to falter after this goal and trying to break down the Ballyvea system was frustrating for the Newry boys. However just rewards came near the end when Tiarnan O’Reilly slotted in Newry’s third and final goal to ease the concerns of the good home support.

While it was nice to get another win Newry have a lot of work to do if they are to keep up a good start to the season. A number of areas were identified that need working on but all in all a win is a win and its down to hard work on the training pitch that improves mistakes. There were some fine performances but again teamwork is what eventually got the win for Newry.

It was nice to see former Team Manager Lee Kirrane in attendance and watching how his former players are progressing.

by Colm Murphy, Newry City U14 Manager

Newry City U14’s played their third away match to Tullyvallen on Saturday past in Newtownhamilton. Conditions were great and Newry continued their recent fine form by starting quickest and piled the pressure on the Tullyvallen defence from the first moments. With some fine football Newry scored two quick goals within 10 minutes after some great attacking football. The forward line of Matthew Trainor and Sean Mc Conville were quick to latch onto some great passing from the two wingers, Tiarnan Murphy and Tiernan O’Reilly and this was to be the theme of the whole match as Newry totally dominated play right throughout the first half. Numerous chances were created and only for some fine saves from the Tullyvallen keeper, Newry could have gone three or four more goals to the better before half time.

The midfield partnership of Shea Morgan and Joseph Connolly really stepped up their game and created many openings for the attack and were ably assisted by the defence. Matthew Maginn playing at right back looked more like a winger as he tormented the Tullyvallen defence time after time.

Newry started the second half still only 2 goals up despite all the play in the first half but after a good team talk from management they added 2 more quick goals. Tiernan O’Reilly got on the score sheet for the 4th match in a row and Matthew Trainor added his second after some great passing.

Another 2 goals later on from Sean McConville and Shea Morgan completed an excellent day for the Newry team. Overall this was one of the best all round team performances from an ever improving squad. Most of the squad got a run out which is great for team morale and competition is really stepping up for places.

One other point to note was the discipline of this young team which shone throughout this match and they should be proud of the way that they conducted themselves.

The next game is at home this Saturday to Ballyvea at the Showgrounds at 10am.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank those parents, players and friends who came down to help with the Academy bag back at Tesco on Saturday afternoon after our match. It was great to see the community give generously to the Academy fund and help build a future for soccer in the Newry region. Well done to Academy Manager Conlon Morrison who had the task of organising it all. It turned out to be a very successful day.

by Colm Murphy, Newry City U14 Manager

Newry played their first league home match against neighbours Camlough Rovers on Saturday last at the Showsgrounds back pitch. In a highly entertaining game Newry started slowly to a more physical Camlough team, who had the first chance to take the lead but squandered the opportunity. This sprung Newry into life who started to play some excellent football, moving the ball around and they created numerous chances, only to be denied by some fine goalkeeping. They eventually went ahead through a Tiernan O’Reilly penalty after a hand ball in the penalty area by one of the Camlough defenders. Newry were on top of their game at this stage and a second penalty followed only this time O’Reilly blasted wide. Halftime approached and Newry for all their good play went in only the one goal to the good.

The second half started bright for Newry and again after some good play along the wing by ex-Camlough player Caolan Reavey, Newry earned a free kick about 10 yards outside the penalty area. Tiarnan Murphy showed great skill by curling the ball over the wall and into the top corner of the net to make it 2-0 to Newry. From the Camlough kick off Newry regained possession and should have gone 3-0 up only to be denied by the post after some great work by Shea Morgan and Joseph Connolly. This seemed to spring life into the Camlough team and after some fine passing their efforts resulted in a corner kick. From the resulting corner the Newry defence were unable to clear their lines and Camlough pulled a goal back to make the match 2-1 in favour of Newry City. The last 15 minutes saw Newry soak up attack after attack from a rejuvenated Camlough forward line. Eventually the final whistle sounded and Newry had another win.

While it was great to get another win, Newry need to work on finishing their opponents off earlier and taking their opportunities when they arise. There were some fine individual performances from Tiarnan Russell and Aidan Ovesen in defence with Shea Morgan stamping his authority in midfield and Caolon Reavey, Tiernan O Reilly and Tiarnan Murphy causing a lot of problems up front. Again though it is the overall team performance that wins games and Newry showed this to earn a hard fought victory.

I would like to say thanks to the many parents that showed up for the game and to John Moffatt (U13 Manager) and Mickey Morgan (U15 Manager) for coming down and supporting the lads. Next game is away to Tullyvallen in Newtownhamilton this Saturday at 10am.

by Colm Murphy, Newry City U14 Manager

Newry played their second league game against Ballybot Celtic on Saturday at the Barley Field. Away from home for the second week running, Newry started the game with some quick passing and neat football, putting pressure on the home team right from the off.

Ballybot were finding it hard to cope with the quick movement of the Newry attack and found themselves a goal down after some excellent footwork from Matthew Trainor found Tiernan O’Reilly on the left wing, who skipped past a Ballybot defender and slotted the ball into the net to put Newry 1-0 up.

The momentum was now with Newry and although Ballybot tried to get back into the game they found the Newry defence, in particular Tiarnan Russell, in excellent form. Indeed from a long ball played by Russell, this set Sean Mc Conville in on goal only to be denied by an excellent save from the Ballybot ‘keeper.

Goal number two wasn’t far away and after a foul on Matthew Trainor, Tiarnan Murphy floated a beautiful free kick to the far post where Tiernan O’Reilly sent the ball crashing into the back of the net to make it 2-0 to Newry. With half-time approaching fast, Newry looked to be on their way to another victory.

It was Ballybot who came out of the blocks quicker in the second half. After some positional switches in the Ballybot midfield, they started to gain control of the match and soon shortened arrears when a a blistering shot gave the Newry ‘keeper no chance. 2-1 and Match on!

Newry began to struggle and could have conceded another goal but for the quick feet of Tiarnan Russell who was having a fantastic game in the Newry defence. The game flowed from side to side but Newry were caught on the break by the home side and after some nice passing Ballybot levelled the match at 2-2. Newry struggled to get hold of the ball and apart from one or two attacks they were limited to a couple of strikes on goal. Ballybot could have sealed victory at the death only for some fine defensive work from Newry. In the end both sides had to settle for a draw!

While it was nice to get such an excellent start, a lot of work needs to be done to finish opponents off and this is something that management will work on. Again it was team work that got Newry through this match and this is something that the team can be proud of. Ballybot are a strong side and will certainly cause problems for many teams this season, so to get a draw away from home is a great credit to all. Next week’s game is our first home match of the league campaign against Camlough Rovers, so it’s important that we regroup at training and prepare well for another tough game.

by Colm Murphy, Newry City U14 Manager

Newry City played their first league match of the year away to Killowen Celtic. Both teams played an open entertaining game in a very sporting manner and it was Newry that started out of the blocks the quickest when Matthew McGinn slipped a neat pass that split the Killowen defence allowing Sean Mc Conville to slide the ball past the keeper. Things got better for Newry 10 minutes later when Tiarnan Murphy played a looped ball over the head of the Killowen back line for Tiernan O’Reilly to side foot past the on rushing keeper making it 2-0 to Newry.

The remainder of the half saw Killowen play a number of long balls in on top Newry’s defence but were unable to really trouble the away team’s goalkeeper.

The second half started with Killowen playing more ground football and a number of attacks nearly paid off only for the sharpness of the Newry defence and stand in keeper Nathan Crudden who put the keepers jersey on due to the regular keeper being injured.

From a quick break away the Newry forwards caught Killowen standing still at the back and were nearly in for their third goal only for a foul on Tiernan Reilly. Tiarnan Murphy played an excellent cross in from the resulting free kick which fell to Joseph Connolly who turned his marker and slotted into the net to make it 3-0!!

Although 3 nil down, Killowen never gave up and were rewarded soon after with a penalty. The resulting kick hit the post but Newry were not quick enough to the rebound and Killowen scored to make it 3-1.

The last 10 minutes were played at a frantic pace and again Killowen were rewarded with quick thinking and slid a ball through to make it 3-2! A tense final few minutes followed but Newry held out for a win!
It was great to see both teams giving their all and Killowen can take heart from a good team effort and will cause many teams problems as the league continues. Newry had many good individual performances on the day but overall it was team work that won this match. Hopefully we can bring this forward to our next game but in the end it was a great start to the league campaign!!