Manager’s corner (21.5.14)

It gives me great pride in writing my last manager’s report of the season as league champions. This has been a terrific end to our first season back in football and is a just reward for the amount of hard work that has gone on both on and off the field. To win the league and reserve cup at the first attempt with a team made up of young local players is a great achievement for all involved. This time last year we were busy sorting off the field matters in preparation for the new season and didn’t have a single senior player at the club. Chris McMahon was the first player to sign for the club and he has repaid the faith I had in him by lifting the league title and setting a great example to the rest of the squad.

It has been a long season but we have enjoyed every minute of it from our first game away to Bourneview Young Men through to our league winning game at Richill. We have been warmly received at every club we have visited and we appreciate the hospitality shown to players, staff and supporters alike. To lose only one league game all season is also a great achievement in itself along with the fact that we were unbeaten away from home in the league. I would have liked to have fared better in the cup competitions but would have taken a league title over any amount of cups. To be the last remaining Mid-Ulster team in the Irish Cup was something we hope to build on.

We know next season will be tougher but preparations are ongoing to hopefully strengthen the squad. The players have been terrific from the very first night of preseason and have bought into what Jervis, Micky, Raymie and I have asked them to do. Their attitude and willingness to learn along with the excellent team spirit they forged has earned them a fitting reward. Our fitness levels have also stood by us throughout the season with the sessions implemented by Cathal Fegan and Conor Murphy paying dividends. This hard work has benefitted the reserve team in their brilliant cup win with Gary, Kevin, Marty and Stephen helping them in their progress.

A club of our size deserves to be playing at a higher level but we have no divine right to be there and we know the higher we go the tougher it will be. However I believe we have a strong basis for progress and as a group we will ensure that we give ourselves every opportunity to do so. The committee have done terrific work in their first season much of which goes unseen. They also realise that there is a lot of work still to be done but are more than willing to put the time and effort in. Our sponsors have also played their part in the clubs progress and hopefully they will continue to do so.

I am also delighted that our supporters have finally got something to cheer about after all that went on at the club. I often hear managers praising their fans as the best in the country but many of those clubs have never been wound up. It would have been easy for our fans to follow another team but they stuck by us through thick and thin and have been an absolute credit to the club. They have been like a twelfth man at times and have brought plenty of humour to away grounds. On behalf of the players I would like to thank them and hopefully we can continue to repay their faith.

We will finish our season with our presentation night in the Canal Court this Saturday night with a large crowd expected. To have the league trophy in the same room as the club was reformed is something we could only dream about at the time. Club legend Ollie Ralph will be in attendance presenting the awards along with league medals. He was in attendance at our last home game and gave us the best compliment I could have wished for when he said ‘you played your way to the league title’. I believe we have played football in the right manner and will hopefully continue to do so in the season ahead.

Yours in sport,

Darren

Supporters denied victory!

The best goal seen at the Showgrounds this year came in Saturday’s end of season challenge match between the staff and supporter’s team.  With the supporters team leading 2-1 with five minutes left Mo Ruddy, who’s last appearance in a Newry shirt saw him score on Sky Sports Soccer AM, beat Ray Byrnes offside trap to run onto a perfect pass from Chris McAllister and from 30 yards chip a beautifully flighted shot over goalkeeper Marty McParland to give the underdogs what should have been an unassailable 3-1 lead.

Alas, due to some controversial time keeping from referee Neil McCullough, who has refereed every Newry match this season from behind the opposition nets and now was obviously keen to gain favour with those at the helm at the club, the amateurs were forced to keep playing until the staff had scored the two goals necessary to secure the draw and so spare their blushes. So dubious were some of the decisions the referee got some of his own treatment as he was booed and jeered throughout the game by Daniel and Mary Murphy behind the Canal Court end goals.Staff team

 

Having trained two nights a week for almost a year, in their team huddle before the game, the staff will have been confident of victory especially when they looked at the assorted shapes and sizes of the opposition. This over confidence was carried onto the pitch and displayed in the first minutes when Northern Ireland over 40’s Darren Mullen attempted to lob the supporter’s goalkeeper, Keith Larkin, who did not need to use his height as Mullen’s shot dropped tamely into his arms.

Play moved quickly from end to end with a lot of one touch football, one touch for the staff and one for the supporters with little cohesive football. However, a touch of class was introduced after 20 minutes when Gareth McCullough stepped up to a free kick awarded after reserve team assistant manager Kevin Darcy had scythed down Liam McLoughlin on the edge of the box. McCullough curled the free kick up and over the wall and watched as McParland dived full length to push his shot out. However the keeper, who in an inspired decision by manager Conlon Morrison took his place in nets in front of the legendary net minder Mickey Keenan who was forced to try his hand as a centre forward, could do little as the rebound was pounced upon by Lee Savage who slammed the ball to the net to put Gerry Hillen’s supporters team 1-0 up. The decision to put McParland in nets was indeed inspired because during this period he kept his team in the game making excellent saves first from McAllister and then from another McCullough free kick.

The staff team did have their attacking moments in the first half but never really looked likely to get past a defence superbly marshalled by Brian Henning. Decky McParland, who was full of running in the first half as opposed to the second period, had a good chance to shoot after 20 minutes but inexplicably sacrificed this opportunity claiming to be have been fouled on the edge of the area, quite correctly unable to persuade referee McCullough of his plight, the referee warning him against diving. The staff continued to push forward but the supporter’s full backs Michael McMahon and Jack Hillen used their younger legs to keep tabs on the fluid attacking threat posed by Conlon Morrison, Dessie Murphy, Jervis McCaul and Mickey Keenan. With minutes to go before half time Mullen went on a mazy run which took him inside the box and to the by line from where he tried to pull the ball back only for it to be blocked with Mullen screaming for handball. Referee McCullough must have been unsighted to both the hand ball and especially as to who was appealing for it as he signalled for a corner much to the Newry manager’s disgust.

MOTM Mo Ruddy, Manager Darren Mullen and Gareth McCullough.
MOTM Mo Ruddy, Manager Darren Mullen and Gareth McCullough.

However, the threat to the supporters goal was not yet gone with the corner still to be taken but that danger was extinguished and defence turned to attack when McCaul, as he ran to the corner to pick up a short cross, heard a call to “jump it Jervis” and did so in good faith but was aghast to see that the call came from the supporters wily Brendan Monaghan who was now sprinting up field with the ball. Monaghan passed to Savage now in a race on goal with Thomas King who matched him for pace but was unable to stop him getting a shot on goal, the staff team yet again saved by McParland in nets.   And so the half ended with the shock score line 1-0 to the supporters.

The second half started with the supporters, prompted by the experienced Monaghan and Gareth McCullough, on the front foot with David Larkin, Aodhan McArdle, Aaron Irwin and Jim Keenan giving the staff no end of trouble.

There was always the threat that the staff could sneak a goal on a counter attack and they almost did just that with 25 minutes remaining when Decky McParland broke down the right wing and floated over a cross for which Mullen rose just like big Peter Thompson and was sure he had scored with a fine header only to be denied by Larkin who tipped his effort round the post. The respite was only temporary as the corner was seized upon by Ciaran Murphy who fired home the equalizer. Prospects for a surprise away victory, the staff obviously fancying their chances before the game and claiming the famous home strip, did not look good with Ian McDonald, John Feehan and Paul Lyons all looking sharp.

However the supporters refused to lay down with McMahon following in the footsteps of his brother providing the inspiration winning the ball in a 50/50 tackle and feeding Monaghan. Sensing a chance Monaghan played a first time pass to Ruddy who nonchalantly flicked the ball into the path of Callum Martin. Martin bore down on McParland’s goal and with the keeper advancing slipped the ball inside his near post to restore the supporters lead. And that lead was doubled with 5 minutes left by Ruddy with that wonder goal and the shock victory was more or less secured.

Match Day Announcer Niall Crilly.
Match Day Announcer Niall Crilly.

 

Unfortunately a game which looked like it was going to be decided by sheer football ability turned into a fitness battle which obviously suited the staff team. With minutes remaining and maybe a few extra players on the pitch, apparently not noticed by the referee, Jervis Og McCaul broke down the left wing and played in the perfect cross which was met on the run by Murphy who smashed the ball to the net for his second goal of the game. And with time up the ultimate injustice happened when McParland again crossed from the right wing and Mullen who belies his age with a strict fitness regime pushed young Murphy out of the way, thus denying his team mate a hat trick, in his quest to score the equalizer which he celebrated as if it had won the Premiership for Liverpool. Match day announcer Niall Crilly must also have thought that the goal had secured Liverpools title as his tannoy announcement was equally exuberant or perhaps with new contracts up for grabs he was just happy that his manager had scored? And just like a good GAA referee content at having secured the draw McCullough blew the final whistle straight after the down trodden supporters had centred.

Manager Darren Mullen presents Mo Ruddy with his MOTM Award.
Manager Darren Mullen presents Mo Ruddy with his MOTM Award.

 

 

 

After the game although despondent that they had let victory slip from their grasp the supporters team found solace that in Mo Ruddy they had the Man of the Match and that they had also played their part in the goal of the season at The Showgrounds!

Newry end season in style!

Newry City AFC finished their first season in Mid Ulster football with a hard earned win over Seagoe on Tuesday evening. Determined to end the season with a win, even though the league title has long since been secured, Newry fielded a strong team against one of the leagues basement teams who belied their league position with a battling performance, Newry securing the points in the final 15 minutes.

On a perfect evening for football Newry were totally dominant in the opening period of the game, the ball virtually camped in the Seagoe half. However, it took Newry fully 18 minutes to trouble the home keeper. Having forced a series of corners from both sides of the pitch finally a cross to the back post was picked up by Paul McElroy who laid the ball back to Mark Patton on the edge of the box. With his back to goal Patton swivelled and drilled a low left foot shoot inside the far post to give the league champions a deserved lead from their first shot on target. Newry continued to play their tidy passing brand of football content to build slowly and retain possession with both full backs Gary McVicker and David Anderson getting forward in support of Sean Hand and Mark Lowry. In fact Newry’s best goal chances before half time all came through these players. On 26 minutes McVicker picked out Hand in space on the half way line. Hand ran at the Seagoe defence who backed off enough to invite him to shoot from 30 yards, the Dundalk native unfortunate to see his pile driver cannon off the Seagoe post with the home keeper beaten. On the half hour mark the same two were again involved, McVicker playing the ball wide to Hand who drew a few defenders before back heeling a return pass into the path of McVicker who had continued his run forward before being cynically tripped on the edge of the area as he was about to shoot. Newry maintained this incessant pressure and McVicker was again unlucky on 36 minutes when he nipped in front of the Seagoe defender to get on the end of a Lowry cross at the back post only to see his header rebound of the post.

Newry doubled their advantage straight after half time. Conor McCaul surged forward from his centre half slot embarking on a mazy run leaving Segoe players in his wake before slipping a pass to Graeme Edgar. From the edge of the box Edgar laid the perfect pass to Neil Barr who slammed home his 30th goal of the season. With Lowry’s pace destroying the Seagoe left back it looked as if Newry would stroll to a comfortable win. However that changed on 55 minutes when during a rare Seagoe attack Peter Murphy in the Newry goal was perhaps harshly adjudged by the referee to have fouled a home player as he jumped to punch a crossed ball, the resultant spot kick duly dispatched to give Seagoe a lifeline. This to their credit they took and for a team which in the preceding hour had barely got out of their own half for the next fifteen minutes Seagoe were on top Newry relying on McCaul and McElroy to stem the tide. On 65 minutes what had earlier seemed most unlikely happened when Seagoe drew level scoring with a glancing header from a corner kick.

To win a league takes a full squad of players and Newry manager Darren Mullen used his full quota of substitutes in a bid to change the game back in Newrys favour separately introducing Joe Campbell, Stefan Martin and Andy McLarty.  Newry also needed their big players to wrestle the initiative back and in Man of the Match Conor McCaul and Chris McMahon they had the players to do just that as both imposed themselves on proceedings. On 74 minutes this paid off, McMahon winning the ball midway inside the opposition half and holding possession as substitute Campbell made a clever run along the Seagoe defence, McMahon sliding an incisive pass which Campbell controlled with his first touch of the game and fired to the back of the Seagoe net with his second for an inspired substitution. With fresh attacking players and Lowry still full of pace on the wing the Seagoe defence, now under serious pressure, were forced into some cynical, although not dangerous, fouls one of which resulted in a sending off for their centre half. The pressure had to tell and Newry added some gloss to the scoreline when direct running from McLarty and Lowry caused havoc in the home defence resulting in goals first for Lowry and then via the boot of a Seagoe defender who turned the ball into his own net in a last ditch attempt to clear.

After the game Newry manager Darren Mullen was pleased to end the season with a win “After the disappointment of losing the semi-final it was good to finish up with a winning game. It was a game that we started very well and could have been 2 or 3 up early but then struggled to create chances for the rest of the half. The second half was much better in terms of tempo although we did allow Seagoe back into the game. The introduction of Campbell, Martin and McLarty gave the team a lift with all 3 contributing to what in the end was a good win”

Newry City AFC: Murphy, Anderson, McCaul, McElroy, Hand, Edgar, McMahon, Patton, Barr, Lowry. Subs: Martin, Campbell, McLarty, Crilly.

Newry crash out of cup!

Newry City will look back on Saturday’s divisional cup semi-final as a match in which they had more than enough chances to have booked their place in the final in the first half and yet can have no gripes with losing to two second half goals from Dungannon Tigers.

Having wrapped up the league title manager Darren Mullen fielded a full strength team for this cup game against a Tigers team who Newry had beaten twice during the league campaign, most recently very comfortably by five goals at home in early March. The early exchanges in Saturdays game did not suggest that anything other than an away victory was on the cards with Newry almost taking the lead with seven minutes gone, Niall Crilly curling a long pass into the path of Neil Barr who’s shot beat the Dungannon keeper only to be cleared on the goal line by a covering defender.

Perhaps Newry should have known that this was not to be their day as their next opportunity on 16 minutes met the same fate. Again Crilly fed Barr who held the ball up before slipping a pass to his partner Mark Patton, Patton’s shot also beating the home keeper but was again blocked on the goal line and cleared despite the best efforts of Crilly who had followed the play. Dungannon’s only scoring chance of the first half came on 17 minutes from a corner which Newry did not clear, Peter Murphy making a smart save low at his near post.

Newry went straight back on attack, Gary McVicker taking the ball from Murphy before making ground and feeding David Anderson. Anderson immediately slipped a defence splitting pass to Barr who’s shot from the edge of the box flew the wrong side of the Tigers post. Sticking with the tactics which have brought so many wins this season Newry continued to build attacking movements from the back. On 25 minutes Crilly was again central, playing a precise pass to the feet of Sean Hand on the edge of the Dungannon box. Hand held the ball up waiting on Crilly’s arrival in the area before sliding a clever pass which gave Crilly a clear sight of goal. With the option of crossing looking favourite Crilly tried to take the Tigers keeper by surprise shooting for his near post, the angle however against the Newry man his shot going wide. The final opportunity of the half came the way of Newry’s captain Chris McMahon. McVicker won the ball in a tackle and immediately found Anderson. Ever alert Anderson spotted McMahon in space on the centre spot. McMahon took the ball to about 30 yards out before shooting low bringing a fine save from the Tigers keeper leaving the match goalless at half time.

The second half started with another Newry chance, again Crilly and Barr linking up to first create a chance for Barr from the edge of the box which was charged down with Barr latching onto the rebound and setting up Anderson, his shot from the corner of the box bringing another save from the Tigers keeper. It was at this stage that the game was to change.

The first sign was a home attack on 56 minutes which brought two excellent saves from Murphy, first diving to palm away a low bouncing shot from outside the box and then reacting quickly to get up and dive at the feet of an in rushing Dungannon forward to deflect the rebound for a corner. Newry went a goal down on the hour mark. Having conceded a free kick on the edge of their own box Newry failed to clear the ball after the free kick had cannoned into the wall, the ball falling to Dungannon’s Brian Somerville who gave Murphy little chance to save with his shot from the middle of the box.

Having secured the all important lead the home side retreated into defensive mode leaving it up to Newry to score. Unfortunately they did everything but with constant pressure on the home defence who were forced to hoof the ball as far up field as possible at every opportunity as well as make some unfortunate challenges which saw the referee award a series of yellow cards and culminated in a straight red card for a horrible challenge on Mark Lowry. However, with all that attacking play Newry really only threatened to score twice in the final half hour.

On 70 minutes a Lowry cross was cleared to about 40 yards out where Conor McCaul met it on the run driving in a technically brilliant shot which never deviated from its flight path which unfortunately was straight into the chest of the keeper, had the shot been a yard either side the Dungannon goal would have undoubtedly been in danger. Newry’s luck was truly gone on 75 minutes when Patton got on the end of a flighted free kick only to see his glancing header slam into the Dungannon post and rebound to safety and Newry’s interest in the cup was effectively ended with five minutes left when a long clearance was latched onto by the solitary Tigers player up field who did well to win a free kick on the edge of the Newry box, Stephen Cusack slamming the free kick past Murphy to send Dungannon into the final.

Newry will reflect that this was a game in which they had the majority of possession and chances but will also know that missing chances leave a team vulnerable to break away goals and that was exactly what happened in this game. However, the defeat must not detract from an excellent debut season from which the objective was to secure promotion.

Newry City: Murphy, Crilly, McVicker, Annett, McElroy, Hand, McMahon, Walker, Anderson, Patton, Barr, Subs: McCaul, Lowry, McLarty, Campbell, Martin.