Newry City F.C.

Newry City

Full name	Newry City Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Town
Founded	1923 (as Newry Town)
Ground	The Showgrounds, Newry (Capacity: 7,949 (safe capacity 2,275, 1,080 seated)[1])
Chairman	Paul McKenna
Manager	Pat McGibbon
League	IFA Championship 1
2010–11	12th (IFA Premiership) (relegated)
Home colours Away colours

Newry City is an intermediate, Northern Irish football club playing in IFA Championship 1. The club, founded in 1923, is based in Newry, County Down and plays its home matches at The Showgrounds. Club colours are blue and white. The club were relegated from the IFA Premiership in the 2010–11 season after finishing 12th (last) in the league. ^[2]

History

The club was originally known as Newry Town - it was renamed in 2004, two years after Newry obtained city status. [1]

The club's most successful period was the late 1990s. After winning the First Division in the 1997–98 season, the club managed to finish fourth in the Premier Division, thus qualifying for the Intertoto Cup.

In this, their first ever appearance in European competition, Newry Town (as they were then known) were drawn against the Croatian side Hrvatski Dragovoljac. A 1–0 defeat in Croatia was followed by an historic 2–0 win at home to send the club into the second round. There they met Bundesliga side MSV Duisburg. Again, Newry were drawn away in the first leg, coming away with a respectable 2–0 defeat to the German professionals. A 1–0 win at home wasn't enough to force extra time but the side had exceeded expectations in the tournament.

Since the 1999–00 season, the club went into decline, culminating in a last place finish in the league in 2002–03. However, thanks to the restructuring of the Irish Football League they were required to play off against Bangor over two legs. A 0–0 away draw and a 2–1 home win kept the club in the top flight.

In the 2006–07 season, big things were expected of Roy Coyle's team, with the manager seen as the most successful manager in the history of the Irish league, however poor results resulted in Coyle leaving the club. He was replaced by Gerry Flynn at the start of 2007.

In Flynn's first full season in charge (2007–08), he and his assistant Peter Murray steered the club to 8th position in the final league table. In September 2009, after a 2–1 victory over Coleraine, Flynn resigned. Shortly after, former Newry player-manager John McDonnell was given the job. On 13 March 2010, McDonnell resigned and Flynn once again took the reins.

On 26th April 2011, the club lost 4–0 to Glenavon and were relegated to IFA Championship 1.

Honours

Senior honours

• Irish League First Division: 1
  • 1997–98
• County Antrim Shield: 1
  • 1987–88
• Mid-Ulster Cup: 13
  • 1936–37, 1956–57, 1963–64, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1989–90, 1999–00, 2006–07

Intermediate honours

• Irish League B Division: 2
  • 1959–60, 1980–81
• Irish Intermediate Cup: 2
  • 1958–59, 1966–67, 1980–81
• Bob Radcliffe Cup: 2
  • 1978–79, 1984–85†

† Won by reserve team

Notable former players

Robert Casey (Former Captain and Manager, current Reserve team mananger) Pat Jennings (Goalkeeper) Tommy Breen Jimmy Kelly John Feenan Ollie Ralph (Striker) Mickey Keenan (Current Goalkeeper Coach) Chris Morgan (Striker)

Mickey Collins (Midfielder) Davy O'Hare (Goalkeeper, Coleraine) Wayne Gordon (Goalkeeper) Damien Curran (Midfielder, Linfield) John Connolly (Goalkeeper, Cliftonville) Robert Robinson (Goalkeeper, Glenavon) Richard Clarke (Midfielder, Glentoran) Andy Colman (Goalkeeper, Glenavon) Sean Haughey (WInger)

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Gareth Buchanan GK Nathan Morley-Hillen GK Donal Greene DF Stephen Hutchinson DF John Convery DF Cullen Feeney DF Ciran Boyd DF Davy Munster DF Gavin McDonnell DF Stefan McKevitt DF Darren King DF Richard Copeland

No. Position Player DF Paul Carvill MF Marty Havern MF Matthew Hazley MF Steven Ferguson MF Ruairi Devlin MF Alan Davidson MF Conor Downey FW Francis Murphy FW Andy Graham FW Paul Keenan FW Ger Rowe FW Timothy Grant

Staff

Manager: Pat McGibbon
Assistant Manager/s: Peter Murray, Packie McAllister
Reserve Team Manager: Robert Casey
Management Board: Paul McKenna, Jim Feenan, Eric Wilson, Ronan McGrath, Tom McKeown
Marketing Manager: Lisa Kelly
Groundskeeper / Kitman: Willie Young
Sports Therapist: Ian Lynch
Goalkeeper Coach: Mickey Keenan
Academy Lead Coach: Ryan McConville

References

1. ^ [http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/qanda/2007mandate/writtenans/2010/101022.htm#3 Northern Ireland Assembly Answer to Written Question AQW1178/11]
2. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13199193.stm

External links

• Newry City FC Website