Newry City U14 2 – 1 Camlough Rovers U14

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.

Newry progress in Irish Cup!

With an Irish Cup tie scheduled for Saturday Newry manager Darren Mullen was presented with the difficult task of lifting his players spirits with the dark cloud caused by the passing of club stalwart Tommy O’Hanlon hanging over The Showgrounds.  And while Newry did secure their passage into the third round this game was perfectly summed up by Mullen after the match “The best I can say is that it‘s a win. It was a very emotional day for the club and maybe that affected our first half performance. Whilst we were solid at the back we struggled to create much against a decent and physical Donard Hospital side” Mullen’s words encapsulated a first half of stop start football which was punctuated by sloppy passing and poor decision making with neither goal keeper getting seriously involved in the opening 45 minutes.

Indeed it took a full 50 minutes before Newry threatened the Donard goal. Aaron Brilly worked hard to win the ball in the middle of the park and immediately looked for Newry playmaker Jimmy Walker who from just outside the box forced a decent save from the Donard keeper. Alas, that chance did not kick start the Newry offence and it was the away team who almost took the lead, Newry saved by captain Chris McMahon who scrambled back to clear a goal bound effort from the Newry line. This proved to be a turning point in the game as shortly after this scare, in a bid to add some impetus, Newry introduced Mark Lowry and Mark Patton from the bench.

With the Donard side tiring Lowry’s speed was sure to cause trouble, the first example of which came on the hour mark when he was scythed down on the edge of the Donard penalty area. Walker who was becoming more of an attacking influence on the game stepped up to curl his effort inches wide of the top corner of the Donard net. Newry’s task was made a little easier minutes later when the referee finally brandished his red card to a Donard midfielder for what had become repetitive fouling. With the Donard attacking threat now virtually nonexistent Newry pressed forward to secure the win they so dearly wanted on the day.

The elusive goal which eventually came on the 75th minute was out of keeping with what had gone before. Niall Crilly picked the ball up in his defensive area. After making ground Crilly picked out Patton with a sweet pass midway inside the Donard half.  The big man spun on the spot and ran at the Donard penalty area. With everyone expecting a shot from outside the box Patton, who had spied the overlapping Lowry, played a reverse pass into the winger’s path. Lowry continued his run taking the ball to the by line from where he whipped in a low cross which was met inside the six yard box by Neil Barr who turned the ball into the net to put the home side one goal up.

Newry appeared content to win by the solitary goal passing the ball about as they counted down the minutes.  With Crilly now free to push forward the home side were also able to pick their moment to attack and with minutes remaining Crilly roamed into the opposing half from where he released Lowry.  With his first touch Lowry swung over a high cross which Patton did well to win beyond the back post nodding the ball back across the goal line. With the Donard defence struggling to get any distance on the clearance the ball fell to Walker on the edge of the box, the midfielder unfortunate to see his low shot skim the post.

With this the final scoring opportunity Newry progressed to the third round with the final score 1-0. Content to have progressed Mullen continued ”The introduction of Lowry and Patton gave us the attacking threat which we needed and apart from the chance which Chris McMahon cleared from our goal line we never looked overly troubled.  We now look forward to the next round draw”

Newry City AFC: Murphy, Crilly, Edgar, McMahon, Donegan, Brilly, Quinn, Walker, McMullan, Barr, Fay Subs: Patton, Lowry, Moan, Davison.

Newry City AFC Academy Tescos bag pack

by Conlon Morrison

If you would like to give us a hand fundraising in Tescos on the Downshire Road, please let me know. You can email me at conlon@newrycityafc.co.uk.

Date: Sat 11th October 2014

Time: 10am to 7pm.

We invite 50 volunteers.

Let me know the time that you are available to attend i.e 11 to 1pm.

I will post out the rota next wednesday.

All help is greatly appreciated.

Funds donated by our local community will enable our academy to hire training facilities, purchase equipment, pay for transport and organise community events.

Thanks

Conlon

R.I.P Tommy O’Hanlon

It is with deep regret that we learn of the death this morning of Newry City AFC Management Committee member Tommy O’Hanlon.

Tommy lived and breathed Newry City AFC and will be sorely missed by everybody at the club. We would like to pass our deepest and heartfelt condolences to his wife Anne at this time.

Newrycityafc.co.uk spoke with City Manager Darren Mullen, Chairman Martin McLoughlin, Committee member Ian McDonald and former Committee member Jim Campbell, who all spoke of the fondness and high regard they had for Tommy.

Martin McLoughlin – Newry City AFC Chairman

richard scudamore
The letter Tommy received back from Richard Scudamore. (Click to view larger version)

It’s a sad time for the club just now, having lost a dedicated club man. Tommy was a life-long supporter of the club. He served our club in many roles – as Treasurer, Club Shop Operator, Lotto Co-ordinator and many more I’m sure. Tommy was a lynch pin in the day to day running of the club and will be sorely missed.

A little story comes to mind when the club were reforming last year. Tommy contacted Richard Scudamore, the Chief Executive of the English Premier League. He asked him to donate a prize for a club raffle. A few weeks later Tommy received a letter back from Richard Scudamore and a cheque for £500.

Tommy was one of life’s givers and it was a pleasure to have known him. RIP Tommy.

Darren Mullen – Newry City AFC Senior Team Manager

The club has suffered a huge loss with the passing of former Treasurer and Committee member Tommy O’Hanlon. Tommy was a terrific servant for many years and played his part in the reformation of the club. He accompanied Eric Wilson and myself to Stormont to meet with MLAs when we were trying to sort through the issues that would allow us to reform.

I visited Tommy in hospital on Wednesday and even though he wasn’t well, all he wanted to talk about was football, wishing us good luck in our game this Saturday. I count myself lucky to have met Tommy and I will have fond memories of his easy and likeable manner. He was a true gentleman and our thoughts are with his wife Anne at this time.

Ian McDonald – Newry City AFC Management Committee member

Tommy was a walking encyclopedia of Newry City trivia which will be dearly missed. He was a true gentleman with whom it was a pleasure to run the Showgrounds Lottery every Monday evening. It’s a little hard to take in that I will not hear his craic nor laugh at his humour any more.

Jim Campbell – Former Newry Town FC Management Committee member

It is with deep regret that I learn of the death this morning of Tom O’Hanlon.

I first got to know Tom during the 1974-75 season when he was supporting the club in the old B league. Newry Town won the B League (South Section) that season and met Carrick Rangers (winners of the North Section) in a playoff game at Ballyclare. He was incensed that the Irish League forced us to play the game at Ballyclare and not at a more neutral venue and wrote letters to the Irish League complaining about the lack of fairness. The club received a reply from the Irish League regarding Tom’s letter and we met him to advise of the explanation regarding choice of venue.

A few weeks later he was elected as a member of our Management Committee. Soon after that he was elected Hon Treasurer of the club, a position he occupied with great honour for many years. Tom was not only a great treasurer but a dedicated worker and loyal fan of Newry Town/City for all those years.

I have lost a true friend and the club has also lost a true friend and wonderful dedicated member. My deepest and heartfelt sympathy goes out to his loving Wife Anne and the Wider Family Circle.

If you knew Tommy and would like to pay your respects to him or share your memories please feel free to leave your tributes below.

Newry U14 2 – 2 Ballybot Celtic U14

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.