Newry City lose out in seven-goal cup cracker against Carrick Rangers

Newry City came out on the wrong side of a seven-goal thriller at Taylors Avenue this afternoon, in a game which will stick in the memory for a long time.

It was hectic, it was frenetic, there were moments of quality and there was some questionable defending in this cup cracker.

Disappointed but proud

Whilst Newry led 2-0 and 3-2 and weren’t able to get the result they desired, manager Darren Mullen was delighted with his players when speaking post-match.

“I said to Stephen [Baxter, Carrick Rangers manager] at half-time that the fans are definitely getting their money’s worth,” he said.

“We started well, went 2-0 up and thought that we could go on and win it. But at the same time, down here is a difficult place to come and we knew that they would come back at us.

“I thought in the second half that we were excellent, we really were. Yes, we didn’t deal with their delivery for the winner, but after that I thought we were super and were the better team.

“Whilst I’m disappointed, there is a lot to be happy about with the performance, and that’s what we need to take with us now into our league fixtures.”

Topsy-turvy first half

Carrick winger Paul Heatley missed two early chances, first sending Ethan Boyle’s cross wide of the near post, before heading Reece Webb’s cross wide of the far post.

In between, Lorcan Forde put Newry into the lead as, from two yards out, he finished off a slick passing move which involved Brian Healy and Ryan McNickle.

Carrick had another opportunity when Heatley’s through ball put Nedas Maciulaitis in behind the Newry defence. He had Daniel Gibson with the goal at his mercy to his left, but Evan McEnteggart pulled off a superb interception to deny an almost certain goal.

At the other end, debutant Jamie Doran put McNickle in on goal and he made no mistake, slotting the ball past Ross Glendinning and into the bottom corner to make it 2-0 on 17 minutes.

Newry looked to be cruising but then came five minutes of madness, with four goals in quick succession.

Carrick caught Newry out with a quickly taken throw-in by Gibson which sent Maciulaitis in on goal, and he finished past Conor Mitchell and into the far corner.

Before Newry had a chance to catch their breath it was 2-2 when Maciulaitis turned provider, putting the ball on a plate for Seanan Clucas to fire into the net from 12 yards out.

However, within 60 seconds Newry were back in the lead when Forde’s cross was bundled home by Doran.

But the drama wasn’t over there, and moments later Gibson punished some slack Newry defending by finding the net from close range to level the game at 3-3 on 32 minutes.

Carrick applied plenty of pressure in the closing stages of the first half, but Newry held out until the half-time whistle.

McCullough finds the winner

Just four minutes into the second half, Carrick played a corner short to Kyle Cherry and his lofted ball was nodded home by Luke McCullough to give the Rangers their first lead of the game.

At that stage, it figured that the goals were going to continue to come, but instead McCullough’s finish proved to be the winner.

Carrick did have two chances to effectively kill the game off but Conor Mitchell denied both Gibson and Heatley in one on ones.

Substitute Adam Salley had a half chance when Brian Healy set him up, but Carrick defender Joe Crowe denied him with a superb block.

At the death, Adam Carroll found Evan McEnteggart just four yards out from goal, but he couldn’t take the game into extra-time, as his volley effort missed the target.

MATCH STATS

Carrick Rangers: Ross Glendinning, Nedas Mciulaitis, Luke McCullough, Benjamin Buchanan-Rolleston, Seanan Clucas, Joe Crowe, Kyle Cherry, Paul Heatley, Daniel Gibson (Joshua Andrews 90+3), Reece Webb, Ethan Boyle (Emmett McGuckin 79).

Unused subs: Ben McCauley, David Cushley, Curtis Allen, Shane Forbes, Cian O’Malley.

Newry City: Conor Mitchell, Ryan McGivern, Gavin Smith (Adam Carroll 84), Alex O’Brien, Jamie Doran, Lorcan Forde, Brian Healy, Ryan McNickle, Evan McEnteggart, Jamie O’Flaherty (Dualta Honney 84), Adam Dorans (Adam Salley 69).

Unused subs: Oisin McStay, Georgie Poynton, Darragh McParland.

Referee: Diarmuid Harrigan.