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.

Newry City will look back on Saturdays Premier Cup quarter final away to Banbridge Rangers and wonder just how they are out of the competition. In a game in which Newry enjoyed long periods of possession and created chance after chance the simple reason is that they did not take any of those opportunities including a penalty which would have brought them level just before half time and were made to pay by a solitary Rangers goal tucked away from the penalty spot by Chris Chambers.

Newry made three changes for the game bringing in Durnin, Edgar and Johnston for Kearns, Walker and Brilly whilst in a strange turn of fate in the Banbridge goal, making his debut for Rangers, was Chris Davison who had just completed his transfer from Newry.

The opening period of the game was largely a midfield battle with little in the way of goal chances. The first fell to Mark Lowry after 20 minutes when he nipped in front of Ryan Gregg at the back post to meet a Keith Johnston cross on the volley, his effort not troubling Davison. Newry continued to probe and they soon created another chance when Lowry laid the ball back into the path of Niall Crilly. His first time cross was met by Mark Patton who’s headed effort again did not trouble the Rangers keeper.

At the other end Peter Murphy produced a brilliant reflex save when Jerry Philip’s shot took a nasty deflection Murphy reacting fast to tip the ball over his bar.

The next fifteen minutes were to decide the outcome of the tie. On the half hour mark a long Durnin pass picked out the speedster Keith Johnston who raced clear of the Banbridge defence and with only the advancing Davison to beat Johnston didn’t get enough power behind his lobbed shot which Davison gratefully collected. Banbridge made the most of this let off minutes later when winger Stuart Mallen got away from his marker only to be taken down inside the penalty area. Maximum retribution was taken by Chambers who sent Murphy the wrong way with a solid penalty to put Rangers 1-0 up.

Newry reacted well to this set back settling into the passing routine which has served them so well this season. They looked like equalising on 36 minutes when McMahon slipped a pass through to Patton who bore down on goal taking the ball around Davison alas unable to beat the narrow angle as his shot hit the side netting. An even better chance was soon to follow McMahon again the instigator laying his pass into the path of Lowry. Once inside the box Lowry turned back inside William Frazer who pulled the winger back, referee Alan Hayes awarding Newry a penalty kick. Having converted a spot kick last week Paul Donegan stepped up with confidence but was unfortunate to see his shot crash off the base of the post with Davison diving in the opposite direction.

Possession in second half belonged exclusively to Newry as they piled the pressure onto a home side who were content to sit in defence and thwart what Newry had to offer with two banks of committed defenders. Faced with this Newry stroked the ball about picking the moment to attack the first coming after 48 minutes when Lowry twisted and turned past his opposite number before unleashing a dipping drive which skimmed the crossbar with Davison beaten.

Durnin and McMahon were seeing lots of the ball for Newry with Durnin looking particularly composed in possession. On 53 minutes it was Durnin who picked out McMahon on the left wing, his cross fizzing low into the box forcing Davison into an excellent save, the rebound bouncing around the box but always just out of the reach of a Newry boot. Newry kept on probing and almost equalized through an unlikely source in Graeme Edgar. Again McMahon started the move slicing the home defence with a ball which gave Johnston a race with Davison which the keeper won clearing the ball to 40 yards out where it was met by Edgar. Having seen that Davison was out of his goal Edgar hit a perfect first time shot over the defence only to be denied by Ryan Gregg who had retreated to head the ball clear from under his own crossbar.

The final 15 minutes of the game saw a series of half chances for Newry but they simply could not get that extra yard of space with which they could really threaten Davison. As it turned out the big keeper denied his former colleagues with a string of saves from Durnin twice, Barr twice and Johnston as the clocked clicked to 90 minutes without that elusive equalizer coming.

After the game Newry manager Darren Mullen was not too despondent knowing that on another day his team will play worse and win “We had enough chances including the missed penalty to win the game in the first half so it’s disappointing to go out. I told the players at half time not to allow it to be one of those days but that’s how it turned out. We now have to pick ourselves up for next week’s game. We were forced into changes for this game but we have a big squad and the players that came in certainly did not let us down. We now look forward to an Intermediate Cup tie away to Ballinamallard next week”.

Newry travel on Saturday to Ballinmallard to play the Mallards Reserve side in the Intermediate Cup KO 1:30 pm. Newry City supporters bus will leave the Stonebridge at 11:00.

Newry City AFC: Murphy, Crilly, O’Connor, Donegan, McCaul, Durnin, McMahon, Edgar, Johnston, Patton, Lowry Subs: Barr, McMullan, Moan, Hastewell.

 Picture courtesy of Brendan Monaghan Photography.