Newry City suffered their first league defeat of the season in an entertaining encounter against table toppers Donegal Celtic in Belfast on Saturday. A game which could have gone either way, Newry taking an early lead through the impressive Decky Carville but proceeded to miss good chances for that all important second goal and paid the price when DC snatched an equalizer on the stroke of half time, the home side slowly getting on top in the second half with the winning goal coming in the closing minutes from ex Camlough Rovers player Declan Monaghan.

Indeed, it was Monaghan who had the first good chance of the game after ten minutes when a sloppy cross field ball by Newry was intercepted, the ball falling into the path of Monaghan with only Peter Murphy to beat but found the Newry keeper quickly off his line to save. Newry’s reply should have served as a warning to DC, Jimmy Walker swinging in a dead ball for which Carville rose highest but was unable to get enough power on his header to beat Sean McIlhone.

The home side would quickly regret not heeding the warning as on the quarter hour mark the scenario was repeated when Carville won a free kick on the left wing. Up stepped Walker to float a cross to the penalty spot from where Carville with still loads to do powered his header back across goal over McIlhone and into the top corner of the DC net to give Newry the lead. Carville was a constant threat to the home side and soon created another chance for himself winning the ball wide on the left before driving into the box via a give and go with Mark Hughes, the return pass just too far in front of Carville allowing McIlhone to dive forward to bravely smother the ball.

On 40 minutes Newry had a great chance for a second. Starting with Chris McMahon winning the ball inside the Newry half the ball went wide to Marty Havern who burst down the wing before firing in a low cross which Hughes arriving in the box at speed attempted to side foot into the bottom corner of the goal, his effort flashing the wrong side of the post.

The game changed on 45 minutes. First the visitors had another great chance to double their advantage, Havern playing the ball wide to Carville who twisted and turned to make room for a shot come cross which hit the inside of the back post and rebounded straight into the keeper’s arms. Play swept to the other end when first a slip by a Newry defender allowed the ball in behind the defence somehow finding its way to Kevin Hughes who from around the penalty spot gave Murphy little chance for the equalizing goal.

The second half was to be an end to end affair with both teams creating chances. First up were the visitors, Havern and Hughes combining to set up Carville, the striker pitching his curling shot too close to McIlhone allowing the keeper to save easily. At the other end a period of pinball around the Newry box saw the ball fall to Paul Brown who forced Murphy into an excellent diving save.

Half chances came and went for both sides until Newry went close on 80 minutes from a familiar source, Walker once more crossing for Carville to win the aerial battle, unfortunate to see his effort rattle the crossbar. With time running out Monaghan was to have similar misfortune at the other end when he also got the better of an aerial duel only to rap the ball off the Newry cross bar with what looked likely to be the last chance for either side for to grab the winner. That was not the case however as with the game slipping into added time DC attacked down the left wing, the ball finding its way across goal to the back post to the unmarked Monaghan who made no mistake from close range to seal the points for the Donegal Celtic.

 

After the game Newry manager Darren Mullen reflected on a game his team could and probably should have got something from “This was a game we should never have lost and to lose in the manner we did makes it all the more frustrating. At 1-0 up we had clear chances to add to our lead and ended up paying the price for missing them. It took us a while to get going but once we did I thought we were the better team for the majority of the game. Both sides had chances and a draw would probably have been a fair result but to take the lead and then throw it away is disappointing. To concede both goals in the last minute of each half is something we need to learn from because as we have seen at this level if you switch off for a minute you will get punished. That said we are sitting second after five games and have made a good start to the season so we just need to pick ourselves up and work hard on the training pitch to make sure we bounce back in the right manner.

 

Newry City: Murphy, Mullen, King, Curran, McCaul, McMahon, Walker, McCann, Carville, Havern, Hughes. Subs: McArdle, McMullan, McCabe, Patton, Johnston.

 

Newry City next travel to play Fivemiletown on the 22^nd October in the Intermediate Cup, KO 1:30pm. NCAFC travel club bus will leave The Stonebridge at 11:30.

A goal in each half from Decky Carville and a professional team display saw Newry City return to winning ways away to previously unbeaten Tobermore on Saturday. With Ian Curran and Conor McCaul completely dominant at the back the Newry goal was rarely threatened although on 15 minutes it did take a Thomas McCann clearance at the front post to deflect a whipped cross from Trevor Parkhill for a corner to keep the Newry goal intact. Newry created what looked to be their first goal scoring opportunity after 20 minutes when Marty Havern sliced the home defence with a pass which gave Mark Hughes a run on goal which was only stopped by a despairing foul on the edge of the box from a Tobermore defender. With Newry probing for an opening their next chance fell to a defender creating an extra option, Conor McCaul with a superb ball picking out the run of Neil Mullen who’s first touch took the ball inside the box alas crowded out of possession by home defenders.

Newry deservedly grabbed the opening goal after 34 minutes, Carville knocking the ball wide to Hughes who drilled a dangerous ball into the six-yard box from where Conor Kearns attempted to clear. When his scuffed clearance only found Carville, who is in rich goal scoring form having netted in the previous two games, the travelling Newry fans expected a goal and Carville made no mistake drilling the ball past Matthew McGaw to give Newry the lead. That lead was almost doubled minutes later when Curran pitched a free kick from the half way line straight onto the chest of Hughes who controlled the ball instantly and swivelled to volley on goal, his effort unfortunately flying over the crossbar. Hughes almost made more of less obvious chance just before half time when he rose highest to win a long ball from Jordan King, looping his header from the edge of the box over McGaw who had to back pedal to tip Hughes header over the cross bar to leave the half time score 1-0 to Newry.

No doubt spurred on by the half time team talk the home side were better after the break and were the first to threaten the goal, Peter Duffin breaking down the left wing before whipping in a low cross which Peter Murphy did well to smother at the feet of Neil Lamont. In reply Havern created a chance for Newry, nicking the ball from Kearns as the centre half dwelt on the ball on the halfway line. Now in a race for goal Kearns did well to get back forcing Havern to pull his shot wide from the edge of the penalty area. Newry handed Tobermore a chance to get back into the game with 20 minutes left. With Parkhill marauding down the right wing Newry defended well to win possession. However, the decision not to clear the ball, instead attempting to pass their way out of the danger area, came a cropper when Parkhill regained the ball only to be fouled on the edge of the penalty area. This time it was McCaul who came to Newry’s rescue, joining the end of the wall at the last moment to first charge down the free kick and then reacting quickest to clear the loose ball.

The home side had a better chance to score on 78 minutes when a cross into the Newry penalty area found Lamont unmarked, fortunately for Newry Peter Murphy was well placed to save the centre forwards header. That was to be Tobermores last chance to take anything from the game as moments later Newry made the points safe. Throughout the game Carville and his marker Kearns had enjoyed a running battle and with the game entering its final stages the pair tussled for the ball down the right wing, referee Ben McMaster awarding Newry a free kick. When Walker floated a perfect ball into the box once more Hughes rose highest to nod the ball on, Carville losing the close marking Kearns to help Hughes effort over the line from close range for his and Newry’s second goal of the game to secure the win for Newry which pleased manager Darren Mullen “That was exactly the reaction we needed after last week’s defeat. We were solid from the start and restricted them to one attempt on target for the whole game. There’s no easy games in this league and we knew Tobermore would be difficult to break down. We were on the front foot from early on and should have been more than a goal up at halftime. The players are learning as we go and now know that patience and hard work are vital components if we are to progress. We continued to press whilst working hard all over the pitch and with the attacking threat which we have a second goal always looked likely. As I said last week after the defeat by Newington the players need to learn from those games and we showed signs today that the players are doing exactly that. It was a very important win against a team that hadn’t been beaten and sets us up for a good game away to Donegal Celtic next week”.

Newry City AFC: Murphy, Mullen, King, McCaul, Curran, McMahon, Walker, McCann, Hughes, Carville, Havern.  Subs: Johnston, McMullan, Smith, Patton, M McCabe.

Newry City now travel on Saturday 15^th October to play Donegal Celtic KO 3pm. NCAFC Travel Club bus will leave The Stonebridge at 1pm, all welcome.

Newry City were dumped out of the Irish Cup in a foul ridden game at The Showgrounds on Saturday during which the visitors had eight players booked and another sent off along with their assistant manager, a price which the visitors would no doubt accept for a tactic which set about stifling Newry City’s football style from the kick off.

Without creating any clear cut chance’s the early exchanges belonged to the home side, the Newington goal threatened early only when a diagonal ball from Mark Hughes had to be turned wide at the back post by Matthew Reid as Stephen McCabe closed in. With a quarter of an hour gone Newry managed to slip the home defence, once more Hughes delivered the cross for Decky Carville, who had beaten the Newington off side trap, to try his luck from the penalty spot with a headed effort which flew wide of the post with Newington keeper Dean Smyth rooted to the spot.

In reply Newington also had a half chance, Richard Gowdy turning to make room on the edge of the box only to be denied by a late block from Conor McCaul. In a game littered by both petulant and nasty tackles any fluency which Newry looked like bringing to the game was snuffed out by a succession of fouls for which it somehow took to the late stages of the game before a player was dismissed from the pitch.

The visitors opened the scoring with 20 minutes gone. In a heavily congested box there appeared to be no way to goal for Newington until a clever back heel flat footed the Newry defence giving Sean McCauley the chance to toe poke a shot past Peter Murphy.

Newry’s reply was swift. Jordan King with a long pass to the feet of Carville, the big man playing a one two with Marty Havern before cutting back inside his marker and drilling a low shot past Smyth to level the scores. The rest of the half belonged to Newry with King, Hughes and Mark McCabe all showing up well, the later the most unfortunate after he won the ball wide on the left before switching infield and firing in a speculative shot which had Smyth diving to save.

Newington regained the lead early in the second half.  Well placed with a free kick midway inside the Newington half the home side imploded, first by not getting the dead ball into the Newington penalty area and subsequently by getting out numbered in defence, Newington breaking swiftly up the right flank before switching the ball to the back post where Neil Quinn was left with an open goal which he simply could not miss.

Similar to the first half Newry created a super chance straight after conceding, Mark McCabe rising highest to knock the ball down to Carville who was unlucky as the ball bounced high denying him the chance to get power onto his shot which still tested Smyth. The keeper doing well to block the ball to the edge of the box from where Thomas McCann, who had been on the end of several overly robust challenges attempted to guide his shot into the far top corner once more Smyth coming to his teams rescue.

With Newry piling forward in search of an equalizer and Newington seemingly prepared to deny them by whatever means tempers were becoming frayed, matters culminating when the referee ordered Stephen McCabe from the dugout as he reacted to yet another foul in front of the Newry bench.

And as so often happens when a team piles forward in search of an equalizer Newry were caught with a second Newington breakaway goal, Murphy coming much too far off his line in an attempt to act as sweeper exacerbated by blasting his clearance straight at Newington’s Conal Burns who was fortunate to see the loose ball rebound towards the Newry goal leaving him with the simple task of walking the ball into the empty net.

To their credit Newry refused to give up, Smyth forced into a fine save diving full length to get his finger tips to deflect a Hughes free kick onto the cross bar, the ball swirling up in the air to the far post where McCabe’s header was deflected wide for a corner. But in reality the tie was gone for the home team with manager Darren Mullen in philosophical mood after the game “This was a harsh lesson for us and the only positive is that it was in a competition that we were never going to win. I thought the referee lost the game in terms of discipline early on and that set the tone for the rest of the game.

“We were the best team in the first half but in the second became embroiled in seeking retribution for some bad tackles rather than concentrating on our own game. As with every game we need to learn something from it and from today’s we now know that we need to be cuter in dealing with a physical game. It was a really good test which unfortunately we came out the wrong side off but if we can learn from it both individually and as a group then we will be a better team from it.”

 

Newry City Team: Peter Murphy, Neil Mullen, Jordan King, Ian Curran, Conor McCaul, Chris McMahon, Mark Hughes, Thomas McCann, Declan Carville, Marty Havern, Stephen McCabe. Subs: Sean McMullan, Keith Johnston, Mark Patton, Mark McCabe, Padraig Smith.

Newry City now return to league duties travelling next Saturday, 8^th October to play Tobermore. NCAFC Travel Club bus will leave the Stonebridge at 12:30.

Photographs courtesy of Brendan Monaghan Photography.