Last Man Standing Round 3 results

Apologies for the slight delay in posting round three results.

Week 3 of Newry City AFC’s Last Man Standing has thrown another shock to the remaining participants with Chelsea, Spurs and Everton all failing to win. Reigning Last Man Standing champion John Prentice has bowed out of this years competition, and he won’t be happy that it was the team he follows who let him down.

Moving on to round 4, we have just 12 people remaining in the competition and anything can happen from here on in, based on some of the results we have seen over the last few weeks. Of the 12 remaining, 50% have chosen Manchester United this week who take on Sunderland at Old Trafford. Stoke, West Ham, Southampton and West Brom making up the other selections.

Lauren Redpath is flying the flag for the female supporters of the club and is hoping for a Man United win to progress to the fifth round. While Patrick Higgins will be hoping that Southampton are able to get the three points against West Brom, whereas Chris Taylor will be hoping West Brom come out on top.

With only 12 people remaining, things are starting to get very interesting with a lot of top sides already ruled out for most people. Good luck to the remaining participants.

Below are people the remaining twelve people’s selections for round 4.

Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4
Martin McLoughlin Liverpool Chelsea Man City Stoke
Brian Elmore Arsenal Chelsea Man City Man Utd
Lauren Redpath Arsenal Chelsea Man City Man Utd
Paul Lyons Man Utd Southampton Arsenal West Ham
Patrick Higgins Arsenal Chelsea Man City Southampton
Mo Ruddy Arsenal Chelsea Man City Man Utd
Joe Bennett Spurs Chelsea Arsenal Man Utd
Eric Wilson Newcastle Chelsea Man City Man Utd
Philip Wilson Man Utd Chelsea Man City Stoke
Mickey Rocks Jr Stoke Chelsea Arsenal Man Utd
Kevin Taylor Arsenal Chelsea Man City West Ham
Chris Taylor Man Utd Chelsea Man City West Brom

Newry City U14 1 – 4 Valley Rangers U14

by Colm Murphy, Newry City U14 Manager

Newry suffered their second league defeat on Saturday last against a vibrant Valley Rangers side who were intent on avenging their 6-1 defeat to Newry earlier in the season. Newry were lucky to field a team on Saturday due to illness, holidays and non-show of players and had to field for most of the first half with 10 players which was to prove costly as Valley attacked from the start and went into a two goal lead within the first 10 minutes.

With the back line missing keys players, Valley took the opportunity to play long balls through on the defence which reaped rewards as Newry were caught out many times by the quick flowing football from Valley and particularly their centre forward who was having a great game.

Despite going down by two early goals, the 10 men kept going and were unlucky not to draw level on a number of occasions. Again that final touch was the difference between the teams.

The second half started more brightly for Newry and thanks to one of the U13 squad the team were able to field 11 players for the second half. They tried hard to get back into the game and had most of the play but were caught again by a quick break from Valley and fell behind by another goal. However this young team showed great spirit and got themselves back into the match after some great link up play from Joseph Connolly and Nathan Crudden and were awarded a penalty. Tiarnan Murphy made sure from the penalty kick to take advantage of the opportunity and coolly slotted the ball to the back of the net to make it 3-1. This drove Newry on and they were unlucky on a number of occasions not to score a few more goals. Following some fine link up play between Tiernan O’Reilly and Joseph Connolly, Tiarnan Murphy  was very unlucky with a run and shot that hit the post and Nathan Crudden also was very unlucky not to see his shot hit the back of the net after a great through ball by Caolan Reavey.

The game was decided by a questionable refereeing decision when Valley broke out of defence and played a through ball to their centre forward who looked to be offside. Despite the linesman flagging, the referee allowed play to continue and Valley scored their fourth goal which killed the game off.

Credit most go to a good performance by Valley Rangers who on the day took full advantage of a depleted Newry team. A special mention most go to the Newry team also, who despite a weakened squad give their all and played their part in a very entertaining game.

Manager’s Corner (24.2.15)

We are now over halfway into our season and the assessment at this stage is that we have not been good enough. It has been a steep learning curve for both players and coaching staff but it has presented us with a new challenge. Whilst many of our defeats have been by a single goal and involved tight games there have been too many to say we had an off day. It is very frustrating as I feel we have a squad that is capable of doing better but ability alone will not win this division. It is a physical league with some tight pitches but also includes some very good foot-balling teams. We can have no excuses but we certainly aren’t feeling sorry for ourselves as there are plenty of games remaining to finish the league as high as possible. Winning successive promotions was always going to be a tough ask but one we had genuine belief in. The ambition of promotion will always remain whatever league we are in and we are going to have to learn from the mistakes we are making. Warrenpoint Town and Dollingstown both had to earn their passage from this division into Championship football and we are going to have to do the same. I can assure our fans that we are working hard both on and off the pitch to make this ambition a reality. The players at the club will have to work hard between now and the end of the season to prove they are worthy of a place at the club and as manager it is my responsibility to ensure we finish the season strongly.

Finally, I would like to wish Joe Campbell and Aaron Brilly the best of luck with their new clubs. Both players have made a positive contribution to the club and will always be welcome at The Showgrounds.

Yours in Sport,

Darren

Easter draw tickets now on sale

Friends of Newry City AFC Easter draw tickets are now on sale.

Tickets are priced at £1 each or a book of 6 for £5. Tickets can be purchased from Decky McParland, Mo Ruddy or Sean McKevitt. You can also buy a ticket in the social club during any home match between now and when the draw takes place on Easter Tuesday (7th April).

The prizes on offer are:

1st prize: £100 note
2nd prize: A meal for two in The Brass Monkey
3rd prize: Large Easter Egg
4th prize: Paddy Power Voucher
5th prize: Bottle of spirits
6th prize: Box of beer