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]

Contents

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

Intermediate honours

† Won by reserve team

Notable former players

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

External links