Danske Bank Irish Premiership: Ballymena United v Newry City (tonight, Ballymena Showgrounds 7.45pm)
NEWRY City hope to have Jamie Clarke available to them again once Crossmaglen Rangers’ season ends.
The former Armagh Gaelic footballer was a surprise addition to the Newry squad at the start of the season for their tilt at the Irish Premiership – but he stepped away from the Co Down club after he wasn’t selected by Crossmaglen to play in a club championship game against Silverbridge.
Despite some encouraging performances for Newry, Clarke was effectively forced to choose one code over the other.
Clarke later returned to Crossmaglen’s championship line-up and helped them win their first county title in three seasons. Stephen Kernan’s men enter the provincial stage this weekend against Monaghan champions Ballybay.
“We just agreed with Jamie to go ahead and play his Gaelic because dipping in and out was becoming difficult for him,” said Newry City manager Darren Mullen.
“He’s going to be playing the Ulster Championship with ‘Cross. The difference with Jamie is he’s a Gaelic player looking to play a bit of soccer. Gaelic is first and foremost and that’s why there was never any pressure from our side.
“Coming back in and going back out again wasn’t giving him a proper chance to get a run in the team. I said: ‘Go and play with ‘Cross and see how it goes.’
“He was doing really well for us for a lad that hadn’t played at that level and adapted really well. When he’s ready he’ll be a welcome addition back to us.”
Mullen could be doing with a bit of Clarke’s attacking craft right now, especially with Newry missing key attacker John McGovern for another “three or four weeks” and the team struggling to hit the net.
Apart from their 3-1 win over Portadown, the Premiership new boys fired blanks in league losses to Linfield, Glentoran, Larne and Cliftonville last month.
And you sense the long-serving Newry manager’s patience is wearing thin with the team failing to convert the chances they’re making.
“We missed two one-on-ones against Linfield last week but other teams are taking them against us. Not taking our chances was the big difference the last time we were in the Premiership and it’s the big difference again. It’s the same theme: you have to take your chances in this league.
“The players need to realise the importance of missing those chances. You can only say ‘hard luck’ up to a point. If one of my defenders misses a last-minute tackle and the other team scores, the defender will get grief for it. If you miss a chance at the other end it’s the reverse of it – ‘hard luck’… but they should be scoring.
“People say: ‘It would be worse if you weren’t making the chances’ – but it still doesn’t matter, we’re still not scoring. That has to change pretty quickly because we’ve a serious run of games coming up in November.”
Mullen, however, took away plenty of positives from Tuesday night’s 3-2 BetMcLean Cup quarter-final loss to Cliftonville where two teenagers Donal Scullion and Brian Healy got on the scoresheet.
Newry have back-to-back games with Ballymena United, starting with their trip to the Braidmen this evening before hosting David Jeffrey’s men next Tuesday night.
Elsewhere tonight, either Larne or Crusaders can above Glentoran at the top should their meeting at Inver Park (7.45pm) produce a winner.
