If goal difference is needed to separate the teams at the top of Mid Ulster Intermediate A at the end of the season then Newry City did themselves a power of good on Saturday when they blasted Seapatrick 13 – 0 at Havelock Park. Adding to the goal difference tally however was only an added bonus for Newry as the primary objective was to secure the point’s that go with a win.

Strangely in a game in which they scored so many goals it took Newry almost 20 minutes to break the dead lock.  And before that they could easily have had the game won, a mixture of bad finishing, bad luck and a fine save from the Seapatrick keeper Gary Anderson keeping the scores level. That changed after 18 minutes when Newrys best player on the day Jimmy Walker swung a high ball into the penalty area for which Anderson and Sean McMullan competed. With neither winning clean possession the ball fell perfectly for Decky Carville arriving into the box at the right time to be presented with the simplest of tasks to walk the ball into the empty net. In reply Seapatrick had their first shot of the game, a speculative effort from 25 yards which bounced in front of Peter Murphy requiring sure handling to complete the save. Newrys second goal on the half hour mark was perhaps the best goal of the day. With time on the ball inside his own half Ian Curran spotted the wide run of Stephen McCabe and flighted a perfect pass just over the head of the Seapatrick defender who committed to the interception rather than tracking McCabe. Now with space to exploit McCabe raced to the end line before whipping the ball across the face of the Seapatrick goal perfect for McMullan to slide in at the back post to grab his first goal of the game. The avalanche had started, Newry going 3-0 up on 36 minutes when a Graeme Edgar throw in beat the entire Seapatrick defence allowing Walker to run onto the ball and square it for any one of three Newry players to finish, Thomas McCann doing the honours with a side foot shot past Anderson. It was Edgar once more who ventured forward to create number four, the defender ruthlessly chopped down in the box as he was about to shoot. The resultant penalty gave the league’s top scorer McMullan the opportunity to add to his goals figure which he took with ease. At this stage the Seapatrick keeper was getting little protection from his team mates, Newry scoring number five on 42 minutes when a Walker free kick was allowed to travel all the way to the back post where Carville turned it home for his second of the day. And there was still time for another before the break, this time McMullan was himself tripped inside the box, the big man dusting himself down to claim his hat trick with his second penalty of the day.

There was to be little respite for Seapatrick on the resumption Newry taking the score line to double figures within eight minutes. Number seven came courtesy of possession won by a crunching McCann tackle. Carville swept the ball wide to the over lapping Edgar who in turn found McCabe, the winger taking his chance well to start a second half goal rush. Minutes later it was eight, Walker again involved picking the ball up inside the Seapatrick half before tricking a path to the edge of the area and firing in a shot which Anderson could only block, as expected ace goal scorer McMullan was the first to the loose ball which he poked over the line. Even massive wins such as Saturdays require hard graft in midfield and Newrys ninth goal scored by Kevin McArdle was celebrated by the players as if it was their first of the day. Again Walker was the architect waiting on McArdle, the man who does all the hard work in the Newry midfield, to make his run into the box before playing a slide rule pass which McArdle clinically finished past Anderson. Goal number 10 owed much to a surging run from Chris McMahon from right back straight up field to inside the box where he unselfishly slipped the ball into the path of Walker who guided the ball with the outside of his right boot curling it in an arc to land inside the side netting.

Inevitably Newry took their foot off the pedal after this scoring burst eventually running out 13 goal winners with further strikes from McMullan for his 5^th of the day, Carville for his hat trick and a final goal which had the current squads hall mark all over it, neat passing between Carville, Walker and McCann ended with a cross to the back post which Keith Johnston headed back across goal for Walker to tuck home to round off the scoring.

Despite the heavy defeat credit must go to Seapatrick who kept their discipline and competed right to the final whistle in a game in which others may have thrown in the towel and also to local referee Paul Kelsey who got all the major decisions correct and kept play flowing throughout. Obviously after the game Newry manager Darren Mullen was content with his team’s performance “It’s not too often you score 13 goals in a game and although we will certainly face tougher opponents the players deserve great credit for sticking to our game plan. Sometimes in a game like this players can lose focus and it can become a scenario where everyone wants to score. When that happens you lose shape and discipline which can carry into the next game. We didn’t allow that to happen and Seapatrick were unfortunate to be on the end of a ruthless performance. The fact that we didn’t score until nearly 20 minutes yet kept the patience in our play was very pleasing. To also play the last 20 minutes with 10 men having used up all our substitutions showed the fitness level in the squad. There will be sterner tests coming up but we have shown we can lift our performance when tested and we now look forward to Saturday’s cup quarter final at Tandragee”

Newry City now travel to play Tandragee in the Marshall Cup on Saturday, kick off @ 2:15pm. Travel club bus will leave The Stonebridge @ 1pm

Newry City AFC: Murphy, McMahon, Edgar, Mooney, Curran, McArdle, Walker, Carville, McMullan, McCann, McCabe, Subs: Patton, Johnston, McCaul, Hand, Hadden

 

Newry City moved into the quarter final of the Mid Ulster Marshall cup with what was in the end a comfortable victory over St Mary’s in Portadown on Saturday. However a slow start and a host of wasted chances in the second half will give Newry manager Darren Mullen something to work on with his squad.

That slow start may have had much to do with a strong wind which Newry had to face in the first half and which almost presented St Mary’s with the opening goal after only a few minutes when a free kick from inside the St Mary’s half floated towards the Newry goal, Peter Murphy doing well to back paddle to tip the ball over his cross bar. And minutes later Murphy was once more in action coming to his sides rescue after a mix up presented Ryan Lawless with an open goal. Fortunately for Newry a moment’s hesitation by Lawless allowed Murphy to get back into place, the Newry keeper still had to be at his best to fling himself across goal to prevent what looked like a certain goal. Newry’s reply gave a little taste of what was to come, Paddy Mooney drifting into the box in front of his marker to get a glancing head to Stephen McCabe’s cross, his effort going the wrong side of the post. St Mary’s went a goal up on 20 minutes when a goal kick was helped on in midfield which took the Newry defence out of the game, Rory Feeney running behind them onto the loose ball and with Murphy advancing he calmly lobbed the ball over the Newry keeper to open the scoring.

Newry replied in the best possible manner with a beautifully crafted goal made by a passing movement starting from Chris McMahon at right back. On the perfect artificial surface at Annagh, which suited Newry’s brand of slick passing, McMahon fed the ball forward to Decky Carville. From there fizzed passes between Carville, McMahon  and Kevin McArdle saw the Dundalk man get on the ball wide on the right. With much to do McArdle left his marker for dead, took the ball into the box, feigned to shoot and instead flicked the ball to his right, perfect for Mooney to drill a low shot across the face of the St Mary’s goal hitting the base of the far post on its way into the net. Newry soon went ahead with a goal started and finished by Stephen McCabe. Picking the ball up with his back to goal on the half way line McCabe spun his marker and powered up the wing before whipping a dangerous ball across the goal which a St Mary’s defender did will to clear over his own cross bar. From the resulting corner Jimmy Walker picked out Carville on the edge of the box, his header back into the box spectacularly met with a flying overhead volley from McCabe which gave St Mary’s keeper Danny Devine little chance to save. And the turnaround was complete on 42 minutes when St Mary’s attempted to play the ball out from the back, Marc Davidson taking an  extra touch on the ball which was seized upon by Mooney who took the ball off the defenders foot and into the unguarded net in one movement to end the half with the score line 3-1 to Newry.

Now playing with the wind at their back Newry started the second half with the majority of the possession and created the first chance with the half only minutes old, Jimmy Walker who had been on the end of some robust challenges, back heeling the ball to set up McArdle for a shot from outside the box, Devine shovelling the ball wide for a corner. Newry continued to look for the killer fourth goal. With a free kick on the left wing level with the edge of the box and all the big men at the back post McCabe picked out the run of Mooney to the near post, Mooney unable to get his hat trick effort on target.

The home side had their chances as well the best coming on the hour mark when they broke out of defence, from the right wing Feeney whipping a diagonal ball across the Newry box which McMahon cleared at the back post.

Walker was pulling all the strings in the centre of the park and created the next chance for Sean McMullan. On the ball on the half way line Walker skipped by successive challenges before dinking the ball over the defence for McMullan to run onto, the striker stretching to shoot straight at Devine. There was more to come from Newry. From the back Ian Curran switched play across the pitch to McMahon. He nodded the ball down the line to Keith Johnston who crossed to his fellow substitute Mark Patton who with his first touch smacked a shot of the post, a defender turning the rebound for a corner. From the corner the ball was cleared to the edge of the box as far as Johnston who hit a sweet half volley towards the top corner of the St Marys net which was cleared from the goal line by Ryan Creaney. And Newry went close again with time running out Patton once more unfortunate as he controlled a corner on his chest to swivel and shoot denied by a fine save from Devine.

However, it mattered little Newry having done enough in the first half to win the tie which just about satisfied manager Darren Mullen  “The first 20 minutes of this game is probably the worst we have played this season and only for Peter Murphy we could have been two down. After we equalised we lifted our game throughout the team and ran out easy winners. Kevin McArdle was superb in midfield and along with Stephen McCabe and Paddy Mooney posed a real threat every time we went forward. We had loads of possession in the second half and should have made better use of it especially in the final third. One of the main positives this season is that we don’t panic when we go behind and know that no matter what happens we will always pose a threat. We are on a good run of form at present but know we need to keep the momentum going.’

Newry City now travel to play Seapatrick next Saturday 2^nd April with a 2pm kick off. Travel club bus will leave The Stonebridge at 1pm.

Newry City AFC: Murphy, McMahon, Edgar, Mullen, Curran, Walker, Carville, McArdle, McMullan, Mooney, McCabe. Subs: Johnston, Patton, Smaryginas, McCann, McShane.

Name: Kevin McArdle

Age: 28

Occupation: Bathroom Salesman

Position: Anywhere! Haha. Most comfortable in midfield.

Previous Clubs: Rock Celtic, Dundalk & Shelbourne

Honours: Eight caps for the Republic of Ireland between U15 to U19. I won a bronze medal at the European Olympics with Ireland U18s.

Footballing Hero: David Beckham

What is the best ground you have played in? I don’t know the name of it but we played Italy U18s in Venice and the ground was a tidy little one. Held around 4000 people and the atmosphere was electric!

Any pre-match superstitions? Right boot always goes on before my left boot. Same with shin guards!

Your toughest ever opponent? Robert Bayly hands down – an incredible talent. I played with and against him at Shelbourne. He was at Leeds United for a few years but he’s now with St. Pat’s Athletic. Big pity he never went further in the game!

Who is the best player you have ever played with? Alan Judge was unreal. I played with him for Ireland at under-age level and also for The Dublin District team. Robert Bayly also – It was nice to be on his side sometimes!

What are your interests outside of football? Relaxing with my fiance and my son Tiernan who is five. I love pier jumping in the summer – Howth head is top class for it!

Who is the best player on the team at Newry? Everyone has different strengths but Jimmy Walker’s feet are ridiculous!

Who is the joker of the team? Ian Curran is some man for one liners but Mully is a different class – he always has everyone in stitches!

Who is the laziest player in the team? Ian Curran runs the least amount of distance I’ve ever seen but never looks out of place. Very intelligent footballer!

Who has the worst dress sense? Haha I’m not here long enough to judge that.

What’s your objective at Newry? To win the league and cup. Simple as. Nothing less will be good enough considering the squad we have.

When your season enters March you are hoping to be at or near the top of the table to give yourself a chance of success. With seven games to go we have done that but it will mean nothing if we don’t continue to work as hard as we have done since the end of June last year. That work has already brought the success we have had in the Premier Cup final and has given us the desire to push on and hopefully add to it. What we have shown so far this season is an unquestionable desire to never give in. There have been games where we have not played as well as we can, including the cup final, but have shown that we are capable of grinding out results and playing right until the final whistle. A sign of a good team is when they are tested and we have stood up to the challenges we have faced this season so far. However we have seven tests remaining in the league along with another cup competition.

We have never allowed the players to get ahead of themselves and the old football saying of ‘taking one game at a time’ has never been more appropriate for us. The players themselves, whilst confident, have never displayed a hint of arrogance. Arrogance brings a lack of respect and respect has been one of our core principles this season. No matter who we play we prepare in exactly the same manner. The coaching staff will ensure that the players have the right mindset from the minute we meet as a group. That mentality within the group drives each other on and is added motivation for them to play as well as they can. People had questioned how we would cope with a large senior squad but recent games have shown how vital it is to have that squad. We lost Decky Carville through suspension but Kevin McArdle came in and has been brilliant for us. Timmy Grant has missed most of 2016 but Sean Hand has returned from America and slotted straight in with goals and assists. We are now getting most of our players back from injury and they will all have some part to play. One player who won’t play again this season is Niall Crilly who unfortunately had to have a knee operation. It’s a testament to Niall’s character that he played most of the Premier Cup Final with this injury and although he will be missed on the pitch he continues to be an important member of the squad off it.

Whatever happens this season we have made huge strides both on and off the pitch. As the manager it is my role to ensure that this progress continues and I can assure our fans that we could not possibly be doing anymore to ensure that happens. We have had magnificent support so far this season and I urge you to continue that support at this vital stage to help the team in our quest for success.

Yours in Sport,

Darren