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Newry U21’s got off to a flying start against Ballyclare on Monday night, 2 September with two goals inside four minutes from a Daniel O’Sullivan double.
A great team performance in the first half saw Newry in control of the game. On minute 55, Newry won the ball back high up the pitch in an organised press and worked the ball quickly from Jack Derry to put Daniel O’Sullivan in a great position to secure his hat-trick.
Newry made changes to the team that included season debuts for Charlie McGrath, Shane McParland and Louis Crilly.
Shane McParland added Newry’s fourth in the 86th minute from a well worked move building from the back.
Newry’s continued pressure into the dying minutes saw a forced own goal in minute 87 to make it 5-0.
A great team display culminating in a clean sheet win at The Showgrounds.
Full time Newry City AFC 5 Ballyclare 0
Newry team
Calum O’Reilly, Adam Heaney, Evan McEnteggart, Rory O’Connor (C), Pierce Patterson, Adam Dorans, Lee Fallon, Cathal Corcoran, Keelan McEvoy, Daniel O’Sullivan, Jack Deery, Eoghan Hickey, Louis Crilly, Shane McParland, Darragh McParland, Charlie McGrath, Darragh Cluskey, Jude Whitten
Goal Scorers: Daniel O’Sullivan x3, Shane McParland x1,Own Goal x1
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Newry Rugby Club held a very successful Golf Day at Mayobridge Golf Club on Saturday 31 August.
A total of 27 teams battled it out in the Scramble Event with the winning fourball of B.Curran, J.Matthews, B.Curran and A.McGovern picking up the first prize of four Ireland v All Blacks tickets for the Autumn Internationals
Prizewinners
2nd Place – S.Hillen, S.Fegan, P.McGreevy, C.Hynes - 4-Ball Palmerstown GC
3rd Place – C.O’Hare, A.McParland, O.Conlon, F.O’Connor - 4-Ball Armagh GC
Wooden Spoon – L.Comiskey, P.Comiskey, M.Farrell, R.Eyres - 4-Ball Lesson with Dougie Bell
Nearest The Pin – B.Curran - £50 NRFC Voucher – Courtesy of Declan Tolan & Family
Longest Drive – S.Byrne - £50 NRFC Voucger – Courtesy of Johnny Matthews @ Savage & Whitten
11th Green Draw – S.McMahon Fourball at Ball Mayobridge GC & £100 Restaurant Voucher - Newry Rugby Club
Organisers would like to thank Main Sponsor Luke Curran Solicitors; 2nd Prize Sponsor Gary Sands – Peter Sands & Sons; Goodie Bags & Sponsor - Savage & Whitten; BBQ Food & Sponsor - O’Hare’s Eurospar Mayobridge.
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Last Saturday 7 September members of Shin Ken Shobu Ryu Judo club attended the British Kata championships at the Samurai judo club in England.
The highly experienced Kata team of Dermot McCaul and Nigel O'Neill were placed third in the highly competitive and popular Kime-no-kata. True to his competitive nature Nigel also joined Damian O'Hare to lift a second bronze in Goshin Jutsu kata which is our self defence form.
The Club also had a brand new team step up for international duty, Paul McConville and Eugene McErlain although they didn't medal on this occasion they did receive high praise from the Judging team on their efforts.
Kata gives an extra layer of training and competition. Kata allows for all the excitement with a lower intensity of the Club's Shiai (competitive fighting)
Next up will be an outing for Junior competitors who will attend the Shinsei Judo club Kids competition on 20 October.
The Club currently have registration open for both kids and adult club. They offer a free trail class all details are available via their Facebook and Instagram pages.
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A €15million Scheme, funded through the Irish Government’s Shared Island Initiative and ZEVI infrastructure funding, will help enhance access to public charging with 48 sports clubs throughout the north eligible for new Electric Vehicle Charge Points.
Local Clubs eligible include: Crossmaglen Rangers GAC, St Patrick's GAC Dromintee, Culloville Blues GAC, Thomas Davis GFC, Silverbridge Harps GFC, Peadar O Doirnin Forkhill GAC and Rathfriland Football Club.
Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd welcomed the announcement “The transition to the use of electric vehicles will play a pivotal role in decarbonising the transport sector and meeting our net zero ambitions. This announcement from the Irish Government is a welcome boost to providing charging infrastructure for destination and local charging opportunities in rural areas and in cities where EV owners may not have access to home charging.
“It will build on the significant progress which has been made in enhancing publicly available electric vehicle charging infrastructure here where 625 charge points are now available representing growth of 60.5% in the total number of available charge points since April 2023."
Funding will be subject to reaching agreement with a Charge Point operator from a pre-approved panel.
Eligible Clubs
Ballymacash Rangers FC Antrim
Mossley Hockey Club Antrim
Wellington Recreation Football Club Antrim
Crumlin United FC Antrim
Michael Davitt's GAC Antrim
Larne Golf Club Antrim
Ulster Rugby (Kingspan Stadium) Antrim
McQuillan GAC Ballycastle Antrim
Crusaders FC Antrim
Crossmaglen Rangers GAC Armagh
Derrynoose GAC Armagh
Portadown RFC Armagh
Culloville Blues GAC Armagh
High Moss Sarsfields GFC Armagh
Thomas Davis GFC, Newry Armagh
St Patrick's GAC Dromintee Armagh
Silverbridge Harps GFC Armagh
Peadar O Doirnin, Forkhill GAC Armagh
Armagh GAA Armagh
Foyle Golf Club Derry/Londonderry
Glenullin GAC Derry/Londonderry
Coleraine Football Club Derry/Londonderry
Sarsfields GAC Ballerin Derry/Londonderry
St Canice's GAC Dungiven Derry/Londonderry
Coleraine Rugby Football, Cricket and Hockey Club Derry/Londonderry
St Colms Ballinascreen GAC Derry/Londonderry
CLG Sleacht Néill Derry/Londonderry
Celtic Bhoys FC Downpatrick Down
Ballynahinch RFC Down
Cooke RFC Down
Instonians RFC Down
Drumaness Mills Down
Rathfriland Football Club Down
Russell Gaelic Union Down
Erne Gaels Belleek Fermanagh
Roslea Shamrocks GAC Fermanagh
Derrylin O’Connells GFC Fermanagh
Tempo Maguires GAC Fermanagh
Heber McMahon Gaelic Football Club Brookeborough Fermanagh
Derrygonnelly Harps GAA Fermanagh
Enniskillen Gaels Fermanagh
Loch Mhic Ruairi Naomh Treasa Tyrone#
Éire Óg An Charraig Mhór Tyrone
Tyrone GAA Tyrone
Omagh Golf Club Tyrone
Killymoon Golf Club Tyrone
Newtownstewart Golf Club Tyrone
Trillick St Macartans GAC Tyrone
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In October Shinken Shobu Ryu Judo club will be taking their Jr members to the Shinsei Mon and Kyu grade event at Craigavon. For many of the kids this will be their first competition with competitors from as young as 8 years old flocking to South Lake Leisure Centre on 20 October to show their skills.
The Club have been delighted to have received a cheque from WBR Credit Union to help support them in their endeavours. The club is busy preparing and travelling to Kata (set movement) and shiai (competition fighting) competitions. The support offered helps out with travelling costs especially when flights and hire vehicles are required. The club are very thankful to Alan Griffin and the team at Warrenpoint, Burren, Rostrevor Credit Union for a number of years now and hope to continue their relationship.
In the next few days Shinken Shobu Ryu Judo club will have a grading within the club allowing their students to show their skills to move up the belt system. This not only allows the coaching team to see the progress of the students but gives the students a sence of achievement by earning their next belt.
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Despite hanging up her football boots on a couple of occasions in the past, Down stalwart Michaela Downey once again found herself gracing the local scene in the Mourne County earlier this year.
An All-Ireland junior football championship winner with Down at Croke Park back in October 2000 alongside her sister Aoibheann, Downey had initially opted to retire from all levels of football as a player in 2016. She subsequently returned to club action with the Newry-based St John Bosco four years later, but a serious bike accident in the early months of 2021 saw her once again placing ladies football on the back burner.
Yet the start of 2024 saw Downey being selected on an Ireland Masters side for an International Rules Series against Australia and this gave her the appetite for another club football comeback. While Bosco weren’t in a position to field an adult team in the current season, she did line out in the colours of the nearby Clonduff – who she had previously represented under similar circumstances.
At 44 years of age, she played a pivotal role in helping Clonduff to reach the semi-final stage of this year’s Down intermediate football championship, where they eventually lost out to Saul.
“My boots had been nailed to the wall for a good few years. Then when I got the opportunity this year to play with the Masters International Rules, I thought ‘you know what, I could give this another go’ and enjoyed my time playing. So I thought ‘I’m going to have another go at it’.
“I was very lucky that in Clonduff this year, there was about five or six girls around the same age as me that went back to play this year. They’re maybe not 43 or 44. I’m 44 now, but there’s five of them were over 40, put it that way. Just 40 or 41 and I would have played with them way back in 2006.
“Unfortunately we got beaten in the championship semi-final, but we did very well considering we were in the intermediate championship. You were playing against teams that were really in a higher league than you. On another day we actually could have beaten the team that beat us, but they were better on the day.”
This year’s Masters games weren’t the only times that Downey had donned the green jersey as back in 2006 she was part of an Ireland squad that earned an emphatic 173-33 aggregate victory over Australia in an international rules series that was held at Kingspan Breffni in Cavan (first test) and Dublin’s Parnell Park (second test).
Playing alongside household names such as Rena Buckley, Caroline O’Hanlon, Cora Staunton and Sinead Aherne, Downey featured prominently in what is the only ladies international rules series to have been played to date - excluding this year’s Over 40s encounters.
“I was privileged to get playing at that time because you were playing with the likes of Cora Staunton and all the Cork girls that I had been looking up to, and would never have the opportunity to play against them because obviously Down weren’t playing at the same level that they were playing at. That was a fantastic opportunity,” Downey recalled.
Interestingly, the manager of the Ireland team for that particular series was current GAA President Jarlath Burns. Two years later, Downey would take up a position as a teacher at St Paul’s High School in Bessbrook, Co. Armagh – where Burns served as principal until taking up his current post with the GAA at the beginning of 2024.
The school also counts a number of players on the current Armagh men’s senior panel (including Burns’ son Jarly Óg) amongst their list of past pupils and this ensured there was a prestigious visitor to St Paul’s for the beginning of the new term.
“Talking to Jarlath, he’s always insisting he’ll come back to St Paul’s. It was brilliant that time, I wasn’t working in St Paul’s at that time, but it was two years later then I got a job in St Paul’s, so I’ve known Jarlath a long time.
“GAA is the main sport for boys and girls, it’s a big school. The boys, obviously there is a lot of Armagh players, we had Sam Maguire in the first week we were back. We had 14 past players and quite a lot of them boys I taught.
“Because they were all the one age group, they all played in a MacRory Cup final in 2013 and they were beaten by St Pat’s, Maghera by a point. All of those boys would have been in the one team. Then obviously all won an All-Ireland there with Armagh. As much as I’m a Down woman, I was delighted to see them win.”
What is perhaps most remarkable about Downey’s longevity is the fact that she played in the very first game that the Down ladies footballers competed in – an All-Ireland ‘B’ Championship encounter with Galway on October 8, 1995.
Yet while Downey supplemented an All-Ireland junior final win against the same county five years later with a TG4 All Star award in 2008 – “to win that was fantastic and Down don’t win too many awards like that” – she has also accumulated multiple Down senior championship crowns with both Clonduff and Bosco down through the decades.
Although she hasn’t yet made a decision about potentially carrying her playing career into 2025, the prospect of once again representing the latter club is something that Downey would find enticing.
“I enjoyed my time and I’ll have to wait and see. Personally, I would love it if the Bosco were to get up and running again at an adult level. If they did that next year, it would be a very young team and if I thought I could help them or assist in any way by playing with them, to try and give them a wee bit of experience, then I would give it a go,” Downey added.
“Whether or not that’s possible, I don’t know. I’ll never say never again because I’ve stopped playing that many times and my boots are still on. People won’t believe me if I say I’m quitting now! That I’ve definitely quit for good.”
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Newry City AFC have once again appointed Darren Mullen as their First team Manager replacing outgoing Manager Barry Gray. Yesterday, Sunday 6 October saw the club release statements announcing both the departure of their current manager and the appointment of Mullen.
In their first statement the Club announced that they have parted ways with Barry Gray. A Spokesperson said "We would like to place on record our thanks to Barry for all of his hard work at the club during a very difficult time on and off the pitch. Barry leaves with our best wishes."
A later statement announced that they have appointed Darren Mullen as First Team Manager along with Ray Byrne and Jervis McCaul as coaches.
Newry City AFC Chairman Martin McLoughlin commented “After a hectic weekend today became a day of change at NCAFC. Firstly, let me place on record our thanks to Barry, Mark and Ciaran for all of the hard work they have done during their tenure.
“I am well aware of the time that they have put in, in a bid to make the club a success and the sacrifices that they have made to try and make that possible. I have no doubt that circumstances beyond their control in particular injuries to key players has hindered their efforts.
“As a club our aim is to keep NCAFC in senior football and to challenge for league titles. Therefore, we feel it is crucial to appoint a successor who has knowledge of the league and especially the setup at the club."
The statement continued “With the excitement of our new 4g training facility nearing completion we are in a great position off the pitch but need the results on the pitch that have so far been avoiding us.
“From previous experience of Darren and his backroom staff I know they will be under no illusion about the task ahead and will be keen to get the job started.
Hopefully this change will give us the boost we need and we can restart our season from here.”
Speaking after the announcement Darren Mullen said “This has all happened very quickly but I had no hesitation in agreeing to help the club. They say you should never go back in football but Raymond Byrne, Jervis McCaul and I all have a huge emotional attachment to this club.
“Results haven’t been good but I believe the squad that’s there is a lot better than the current league position shows. The fans have always been brilliant but we need to start giving them something to sing about. As a group we will be working hard to get Newry City back where they belong and that work starts this Tuesday night.”
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Newry RFC U12s put in a series of battling performances under lights at the Bangor Blitz on Friday night past.
Against top opposition, the Newry lads came away with two memorable wins against Lurgan and Malone/Ballyclare and held their own, before losing by the narrowest of margins against stiff opposition in the form of Dromore and Bangor.
Overall the Newry lads can reflect on an excellent night's work.
It was a real team effort across all four tightly contested matches with the Newry boys playing some excellent attacking rugby and getting big tackles in when it mattered.
Every player got game time and based on these displays this bunch of Newry lads are going places.
The first test of the evening was against a well drilled Bangor outfit.
The home side were matched for most of the game with two tries apiece going into the closing stages, but Newry let their guard down and conceded two late tries in the final minutes. A draw would have been a fair result but the Newry lads learned from the experience and went on to shine in the remaining three games.
In the second game against Lurgan the Newry game plan came together and the blue and whites played like a team on fire to win the clash by three tries to two.
Again a real team effort from Newry but special mention must go to Harry Killen who scored his first try with a well placed hand-off.
The third game was the toughest test of the night against an excellent Dromore, who were arguably the best side Newry played on the night. Newry conceded two tries before they got going but they soon responded with tries of their own and let Dromore know they were in a game with strong tackles really knocking the opposition backwards. Despite a valiant effort Dromore managed another try to edge out the blue and whites.
Newry saved the best to last against Ballyclare/Malone in what was a real ding dong contest.
The best move of the night between Tom Cranney, Finn Laverty and Oran Hughes put Anthony Magennis in to go over the line. The move rounded off an excellent 4-2 win for the Newry lads, all of whom did the club proud.
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