A Brief History
Newry City F.C. are a football club playing currently in the IFA Carling Premiership in Northern Ireland. The club, founded in 1923, is based in Newry, County Down and plays its home matches at The Showgrounds. Club colours are blue, white & yellow. The club's manager is Pat McGibbon.
The club was originally known as Newry Town - it was renamed in 2004, two years after Newry obtained City status.
Newry entered the top division of the Irish League in the early 1980s and built a decent team under then manager Matt Bradley. Newry won the County Antrim Shield in 1987-8 when they defeated Ballymena United in the final. The best known player from this era is Irish League legend Ollie Ralph who was a prolific goalscorer and extremely loyal servant to Newry.
After spending the early part of the 1990s in the doldrums, the club reemerged with a relatively successful period in 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 appearnace 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 met Bundesliga side MSV Duisberg. 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.
Newry finished in 6th place in the following two seasons, before a less successful time which culminated in a last place finish in the league in 2002/03. However, thanks to the resurrecting 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, courtesy of a John Joe Maguire goal and a late Robbie Brunton penalty, kept the club in the top flight.
In the 2006/07 season, big things were expected of Roy Coyle's team, an individual seen by many 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.
Their second season in charge was one of similar fortunes. After a largely unsuccessful league campaign, Flynn steered his troops from 11th in the table with five games to go to a final position of 8th after four wins and a draw in the final run in. This was coupled with the fact that the club reached their first major cup final in over 20 years, when they reached the Co-operative Insurance Cup final after a dramatic semi final victory over Lisburn Distillery. Two goals from Stephen Garrett and a dramatic late winner from Richard Clarke secured a place in the decider against Portadown. Unfortunately for Newry, a Gary McCutcheon goal for Portadown was enough to win the game and leave the club still searching for their first major trophy win since 1988.
Honours
Senior Honours
- Irish League First Division: 1 - 1997/98
- County Antrim Shield: 1 - 1987/88
- Mid-Ulster Cup: 7 - 1936/37, 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: 3 - 1958/59, 1966/67, 1980/81
- Mid-Ulster Cup: 6 - 1956/57, 1963/64, 1966/67, 1968/69, 1974/75, 1977/78
- Bob Radcliffe Cup: 2 - 1978/79, 1984/85