Two early goals do the damage as Newry City lose at home to Coleraine

Two goals in the opening half hour did the damage as Newry City lost at home to Coleraine on Saturday afternoon.

The visitors got off to a tremendous start to the game, when Conor McKendry let fly from 30 yards out and found the top corner, just six minutes into the game. Putting Newry immediately on the back foot.

Minutes later, Coleraine had a chance to increase their lead when Ryan McGivern was adjudged to have handled the ball in his own area and they were awarded a penalty. Thankfully for Newry however, Conor Mitchell saved Jamie McGonigle’s spot kick.

But Oran Kearney’s side wouldn’t have to wait too much longer to make it 2-0, as on the half hour mark, Matthew Shevlin headed home from Jamie Glackin’s corner.

Newry did several chances of their own in the first half, as Coleraine shot stopper Rory Brown was called into action to deny a low Adam Salley shot and a Ciaran O’Connor header, but their best opportunity came when Salley connected with a Georgie Poynton cross but couldn’t keep his header down.

In the second half, Coleraine managed their lead well and had chances to increase their advantage, but Mitchell was on hand to make several saves for Newry, whilst in the dying minutes John McGovern was denied a consolation goal by an excellent Brown save at close range.

Following the game, Newry boss Barry Gray wasn’t satisfied with the result, but he conceded that it was a big improvement from his side after their chastening 8-2 defeat away to Glentoran last week.

“We’re disappointed obviously,” said Gray.

“But where we are today compared to where we were last week at The Oval, it was a much improved performance, improved attitude and improved discipline.

“It’s not anywhere near where we want to be, but we took a heavy hit last week, and although we conceded two poor goals at bad times, we recovered and made a game of it.”

For the full match report and more reaction see this week’s Newry Reporter – in shops Wednesday February 28!