With Ballymacash Rangers the first visitors to The Showgrounds for the new season Newry were able to witness the step up in grade which awaits them in their first season in Mid Ulster Intermediate A from opponents who spent most of last season in the top quarter of the table. As for the match itself Newry’s cause was not helped on the quarter hour mark when they lost their captain Chris McMahon through injury. Indeed McMahon was fortunate not to have been badly injured in the incident which left his shin and ankle badly bruised but was not judged to have been worthy of a free kick by the match referee. The man in the middle did, however, get his next major decision correct when he awarded a penalty against Newry for a mistimed tackle which sent a Ballymacash forward sprawling over the end line from a position in which he was posing little danger to the Newry goal.

The Newry response to going a goal behind from the spot kick will have pleased manager Darren Mullen as his side pressed forward for the rest of the half. Kenny Kearns fired over from the edge of the box after being set up by Mark Patton and then Kearns floated a delightful diagonal ball over the defence into the path of Mark Lowry who got to the ball first but was unable to get enough power into his shot to trouble the keeper. Newry were now well on top but when a dubious offside call by the referee robbed McMullan of a chance for the equalizer it looked as if the half time whistle was going to come at the wrong time for the home side. However, the big man was not to be denied. Chris Fay laid the ball wide into the path of Paddy Magill who whipped over a high cross for which Patton challenged the keeper, the ball falling to McMullan who finished to the net to leave the half time score level.

Newry continued to probe after the break with Kearns and Lowry causing problems for the Ballymacash defence, Lowry paying the price for his trickery being subjeced to a series of late tackles by a stretched defence. However for all their pressure Newry never really looked like scoring and when they did get into dangerous positions the threat was ended with Newry players repeatedly adjudged to have roamed needlessly into offside positions. With 15 minutes left it looked as if Newry might be about to get on top when a Ballymacash defender was given a red card for yet another late tackle on Lowry. Alas, the breakthrough never came and Newry paid the highest price when they gave away a soft free kick just inside their own half and then allowed the Ballymacash centrehalf to move forward and get onto the end of the free kick to nod home and secure the three points for his team.

In a game where they often promised but never really got going best for Newry were Kenny Kearns, Mark Lowry and Sean McMullan.

Speaking after the game Newry manager Darren McMullan was in philosophical mood “Apart from the first 20 minutes of this game I thought we were the better team and had most of the possession but lacked a cutting edge. They were a good physical side and it was a good indication of what is ahead this season as they are one of the favourites for the league. Defensive errors cost us dearly in the end against 10 men and we are going to have to learn to make the most of our chances. It was an improvement on the Lower Maze performance and we will have to pick ourselves up for the next league game.

Newry City AFC: Murphy, O’Connor, Magill, McCaul, Donegan, Fay, Walker, McMahon, Patton, McMullan, Kearns. Subs: Lowry, Brilly, Edgar, Curran, Crilly.

My first report of the campaign comes after a mixed start to the season. Our first 3 games have resulted in a draw, a loss and a win. Whilst there is no need to panic at this early stage, we know that performances will need to be improved upon to give ourselves a chance of success this season. We have seen already in our opening two league games that the standard is higher than last season with less time on the ball and games played at a higher tempo. It’s a challenge that we must rise to but one we are also looking forward to. The players are preparing in the right manner and with a bit more luck in front of goal we could easily have been sitting with 6 points instead of 1. However defensive mistakes will need to be limited and we
can’t afford to feel sorry for ourselves. We have brought in 10 new players and it will take time for them to adjust to our style of play but there have been enough signs in the past 2 games to show we are on the right track.

After our win against Richill we have a further two cup games before we return to league action. They are both tough games but a good cup run is something we are looking for this season with the hope of silverware along the way. The draw for the Irish Cup takes us away to Strabane Athletic in what is sure to be a tough game. They took Premiership side Ballinamallard to a replay last season before being narrowly defeated 1-0. However, I’m sure they realise they could also have had an easier draw in this first round stage and we will go there in confident mood. The fact that we beat Richill 5-2 with 8 senior players missing shows the depth we have in the squad and with the league and 6 cup competitions we are going to need every member of that squad.

Finally I would like to wish our ladies team the best of luck in their Irish cup final against Linfield. They have been doing extremely well over the past few seasons and would be a terrific achievement if they were to bring the cup back to Newry. Hopefully by this stage the powers that be have seen sense to change the time of the final to allow players and fans to attend.

Yours in sport,

Darren

With a chance to put the early season poor league form to one side Newry fielded a much changed side for Saturday’s visit of Richhill in a preliminary round tie in the Bob Radcliffe Cup. Having beaten the visitors three times last season Newry would have been confident of winning this cup tie and that was how the game worked out with the home side taking the lead as early as the fifth minute when Ian Curran got on the end of a Chris Fay corner to side foot  home. Newry continued on the front foot, Sean McMullan forcing a smart save from Richhill keeper McCartney with a low drive from the edge of the box. For all their possession Newry got a scare with 13 minutes gone when a wind assisted clearance was not dealt with by the home defence allowing David Ross to run onto the loose ball inside the Newry box, his shot however flashed wide of the goal.

Obviously the Newry defence did not learn from this and two minutes later the scenario was repeated. However this time it was Andrew Allen who got onto the ball and he made no mistake giving Chris Davison, who was making his full debut in the Newry goal, no chance as he levelled the scores. With Chris Fay and Graeme Edgar controlling the centre of the park the home side never looked in danger of loosing the game and went a goal up again on the half hour mark. Again McMullan was involved when his persistance in chasing a loose ball paid off allowing him to hold the ball up and lay it back to Kearns. Industrious as ever McMullan got himself into the box to get his head to the Kearns cross helping the ball towards goal from where it was forced home by Lowry who nipped in front of the Richhill keeper.

What will not please the Newry management is that from this position they did not kick on and like earlier games gave away a soft free kick which again was to prove costly. After conceding a free kick wide on the right Newry failed to deal with the crossed ball which made its way across the box to the back post from where Richhill’s Kyle Davidson made no mistake. Not to be denied Newry bounced back to regain the lead before half time, Kearns winning a free kick 25 yards from goal and then composing himself before curling a beautifully flighted ball into the top corner of the Richhill net to leave the half time score 3-2 to Newry.

That was as good as it got for Richhill as the home side dominated the second half. Mark Lowry is a threat to most defences and through his own endeavour he could have doubled the Newry advantage on the 50^th minute. Having chased a long ball Lowry bravely blocked the advancing goalkeepers clearance but was unfortunate as the ball looped into the air allowing the Richhill defenders to get back and crowd out his shot on goal. McMullan was enjoying his free role upfront and was giving the Richhill back four a torrid time. On the hour mark he rose highest to nod a long Niall Crilly pass to Lowry.  Lowrys return ball released McMullan to shot across goal bringing a fine save from McCartney who pushed it round his post for a corner. Ian Curran could have had his second goal of the day from Fay’s corner but was unfortunate to find the goal keeper with his header with the rest of the net gaping. The goal had to come however and again it was McMullan winning the ball in the air and finding Lowry. This time Lowry did not return the pass instead spinning past his marker and shooting first time to the bottom right hand corner of the Richhill net. The home side rounded off the scoring in the final minute and fittingly McMullan grabbed one for himself. With acres of space to run into Joe Campbell ran with the ball from the halfway line before picking out Fay at the back post. For his efforts Fay would also have deserved a goal but it was not to be as his shot rebounded off the cross bar with McMullan the first to react, the big striker displaying fleet of foot to deftly dink the ball over McCartney for Newrys fifth and final goal.

In a much better performance best for Newry were Curran, Edgar and McMullan with Chris Fay just getting the nod for Man of the Match. Manger Mullen was clearly pleased to get a win “Despite missing eight senior players we were able to win this cup game quite comfortably in the end. However, several defensive mistakes left the first half tighter than it should have been. Once we organised ourselves at half time the second half performance was a lot better and we were able to run out easy winners. We had five players making their first appearance of the season and this game shows the depth of our squad. Hopefully we can use this win to push on in the next few games.”

Newry City AFC: Davison, Crilly, Lundy, Martin, Curran, Kearns, Edgar, Brilly, McMullan, Lowry, Fay, Subs: O’Connor, Quinn, Campbell, Murphy.

Newry City Travel Club will be running a supporters bus to the Newry game away to Strabane in the Irish Cup on Saturday 23rd August. The bus will be departing from the Stonebridge at 10.45am sharp. All are welcome.

Photograph: Brendan Monaghan.

Fixed Puzzle

Newry kicked off their Mid Ulster Intermediate A campaign with a trip to Lower Maze. The conditions were remarkably similar to the opening game of last season. Just as at Bourneview, the sun shone down on the lush turf of the tree lined pitch. Unfortunately, that’s where the similarities ended as a repeat of last year’s comfortable win rarely looked on the cards against a well drilled and competitive home side.

The first half was something of a non-event from a Newry perspective as they struggled to create anything of note. The only half chance came just before the half hour mark when Jimmy Walker played a neat one two with Sean McMullan on the edge of the box, only to shoot well over the bar.

Lower Maze defended well from front to back, forcing Newry to go long earlier than ideal and thus limited City’s attacking thrust, while the hosts were dangerous themselves when they broke forward at pace. They created two decent chances inside the opening 15 minutes; one very presentable opening blazed over by a well-placed centre forward and another quick break that forced Peter Murphy to race from his goal. Murphy made half a block and when the ball broke to the Maze winger, his cross into the box was cleared by David O’Connor. Murphy made another decent block midway through the half while the home side had two penalty claims turned down, one of which might have been given after the ball struck Conor McCaul’s hand.

The half time break offered Darren Mullen and his backroom team the opportunity to remedy the situation and they brought on Kenny Kearns for Aaron Brilly as well as changing formation from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3. The changes almost paid immediate dividends as Mark Patton played in Neil Barr, moved to a central role having played on the left in the first moiety. Barr raced clear but slotted just wide. Nonetheless, this was better and City didn’t have to wait long for a breakthrough. Establishing a greater degree of control in midfield, Kearns played McMullan in behind the home defence. Initially he didn’t look like getting there, but he reached the ball just in time to nip it past the home keeper who duly brought him down. McMullan dusted himself down and stepped up to slot the penalty and give City the lead.

Newry were now in the ascendancy but would spurn a series of opportunities to make their supremacy count. McMullan had two efforts, one shot just wide and a header saved while a cross from the same player was almost turned in to his own net by a home defender as Newry looked to turn the screw. City were a little unlucky on 63 minutes when O’Connor’s cross was headed home by Patton only for the referee to disallow the effort for an apparent infringement on the home goalkeeper.

A single goal lead is always precarious and so it proved. On 72 minutes, a Lower Maze corner wasn’t properly cleared and when the ball dropped just outside the box, the home player stroked home a sweet strike in to the bottom corner of the net. The goal rocked Newry back on their heels while giving a new lease of life to the home side. The game was much more even now but chances were hard to come by and the game appeared to be petering out as the clock ticked down. With ten minutes to go a dangerous Lower Maze break ended with a shot from their lively number 15 which was blocked before, to their credit, Newry roused themselves for one last effort which incredibly yielded four decent chances in the last five minutes. On 87 minutes, a superb McMahon ball released sub Chris Fay, but he shot wide when well placed. Then Fay turned provider with a cross to Neil Barr whose instinctive flick fell into the arms of the grateful home keeper. Newry kept coming, Walker played in Barr who shot straight at the keeper from a difficult angle before Paddy Magill and Mark Patton combined to provide a final chance which Barr clipped just wide.

After the game, manager Darren Mullen commented that, “we had a very poor first half and struggled to break them down. The intensity of our play wasn’t good enough and we kept giving the ball away. We looked a lot better in the second half when Kenny Kearns came on and we changed the formation. Once we scored we failed to take our further chances and paid the price. Although we had chances to win in it the end it was a disappointing performance but it shows the lads that this is a tough league and we are going to have to work very hard to get any rewards this season. It’s only the first game and we look forward now to 3 home games in a row.”

Plenty to ponder then for Newry. After a disappointing first half display, the side were much improved after the break but a failure to convert a host of chances meant one point instead of three. Newry now look forward to a first home game of the season, a tough one against Ballymacash Rangers on Tuesday evening, kick off at 8pm.

Newry City: Peter Murphy, David O’Connor, Paddy Magill, Paul Donegan, Conor McCaul, Chris McMahon, Aaron Brilly (Kenny Kearns), Jimmy Walker, Sean McMullan (Chris Fay), Mark Patton, Neil Barr. Subs not used: Niall Crilly, Ian Curran, Graeme Edgar.
newrycityafc.co.uk MOTM: David O’Connor