One goal enough as Newry City are bested by 10-man Glentoran at The Oval

Newry City will come away from The Bet McLean Oval with plenty of positives but no points, as they lost out 1-0 to a quality Glentoran side, who held on for the victory despite playing with 10 men for an hour of action.

Glentoran had all of the early chances, including when Daire O’Connor sent Shay McCartan through on goal seven minutes in. It looked set to be a certain goal, but Steven Maguire did excellently, rushing out to make the save.

David Fisher had a dangerous chance blocked by Ryan McGivern moments later, before Aaron Wightman had a huge opportunity, as he broke clear of the Newry defence, but he dragged his shot wide of the far post in a one on one. Then, an Aidan Wilson long throw was allowed to bounce in the box, but Niall McGinn headed over from close range.

On 29 minutes, Glentoran finally got their break through when a McGinn corner was flicked on by Wilson and poked into the net from four yards out by McCartan. However, the dynamic of the game changed less than a minute later when Wilson was shown a straight red card for an off the ball incident.

With the man advantage Newry began to get more of a foothold in possession, but the next major chance came minutes into the second half when Fisher poked the ball towards goal from six yards out, but he was denied by an outstanding save by Maguire at full stretch. The ball then bobbled around the goal line between Fisher trying to slot home and Maguire and Stephen Moan scrambling to clear, and it somehow stayed out and remained 1-0.

Newry continued to have much of the ball but other than outside the box efforts from Ryan McGivern and Thomas Lockhart they weren’t troubling Glentoran as much as they’d have liked. At the other end, the hosts had another chance to make it a two-goal lead when O’Connor met a Chukwuemenka Uzokwe cross, but he directed his shot wide.

The closest Newry came was a headed effort from Adam Salley which went over, but Gary Boyle’s men will be disappointed that they couldn’t test Glens shot stopper Aaron McCarey more than they did.

Newry City host Carrick Rangers on Friday evening, in their final fixture before Christmas.

For full match report and reaction see this week’s Newry Reporter – in shops Wednesday December 20!

MATCH STATS

Glentoran: Aaron McCarey, Luke McCullough, Aidan Wilson, Shay McCartan (Sean Murray, 78), Daire O’Connor, Fuad Sule, David Fisher (Chukwuemenka Uzokwe, 62), Paddy McClean, Jonathan Russell, Aaron Wightman, Niall McGinn (Josh Kelly, 37).

Unused subs: Oliver Webber, Marcus Kane, Ruaidhrí Donnelly, George Feeney.

Newry City: Steven Maguire, Ryan McGivern, Barney McKeown, Ciaran O’Connor (Brian Healy, 78), Adam Carroll (Paul McGovern, 71), Thomas Lockhart, Adam Salley, Andrew Martin, Stephen Moan (Jordan Mooney, 86), Lorcan Forde, Goergie Poynton (Lee Newell, 78).

Unused subs: Darren King, Liam Bagnall, Daragh Owens.

Referee: Lee Tavinder.