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Newry City 1 - 1 Cliftonville

After the visitors had gone in front through George McMullan's first half penalty, Alan Davidson levelled things up in the second half and City could have gone on and won the game had they taken their chances.

In a first half that saw the ball in the air more than it was on the ground and a huge number of offsides given at both ends of the pitch, Newry had a super chance to break the deadlock after just five minutes.

Niall Henderson dispossessed Ryan Catney on the halfway line and poked the ball through to Stephen Garrett midway inside the Cliftonville half.

The speedy striker had space to run into and players square of him nut he opted to shoot from 18 yards on the right hand side of the area.

That shot beat former Newry keeper John Connolly but cannoned back off the right hand post and away back into the area before being cleared to safety.

Three minutes later, the visitors had their opening opportunity when George McMullan's free-kick was blocked by Kevin Keegan and the ball deflected up into the path of Chris Scannell but his overhead kick from 10 yards was held by Newry keeper Neil Gallagher.

There was calamity in the Newry defence in 29 minutes when Gavin McDonnell and Gallagher left the ball for one another and Ciaran Caldwell nipped in to lift it goalwards but Danny O'Connor got back to clear the ball off the line.

A minute later McMullan's 15-yard header from Barry Holland's cross from the right was held by Gallagher before Boyce got his first sniff of goal on 32.

A ball over the top saw the highly-rated youngster get the better of Newry captain Davy Munster to bear down on goal but his low drove from just inside the area was blocked by Gallagher.

But Eddie Patterson's men didn't have to wait too much longer to go in front after they were awarded a penalty seven minutes before the break.

Caldwell hooked over a cross from the right and with Boyce arriving at the back post, Adrian McCourt adjudged Danny O'Connor to have bundled him over. It looked to be harsh decision but that didn't matter to McMullan who fired home from the spot despite Gallagher nearly getting a touch to it.

Then right at the end of the half, with 10 seconds of stoppage time to go in fact, Newry should have levelled when Garrett got the better of Connolly to lift it over the keeper at the edge of the area and seemingly sidefoot it into the empty net. However, Ciaran Donaghy came out of nowhere to produce a superb diving clearance and prevent the goal.

The Reds had two great chances in the opening six minutes of the second period with Ciaran Caldwell shooting into the side netting on 48 before Chris Scannell directly Peter Hutton's seemingly goalbound header over the bar when, if he had left it, the ball looked to be going in.

Newry had yet another glorious chance to draw level on 64 minutes when Boyd beat the suspect Cliftonville offside trap to break free down the left hand side after Gavin McDonnell's ball over the top but his shot from just inside the area clipped the top of the bar and out for a goal kick.

But they did get level five minutes later with a superbly worked goal that again saw City exploit the right hand side of the visitors' defence.

Niall Henderson's long ball set Garrett free down the left and he cut into before sliding the ball across where two Newry players, Alan Davidson and sub Ruairi Devlin were waiting to finish it off.

It was Davidson who was in the right place at the right time to slam the ball into the empty net to level things up.

Newry City: Gallagher, O'Connor, McDonnell, Munster, Black, Henderson, Keegan, Davidson, Hazley, Boyd (Devlin 67), Garrett.
Subs not used: Coleman, Graham Keenan, Cummins.

Cliftonville: Connolly, R Scannell, B Holland, Donaghy, McMullan, C Scannell, Caldwell (M Holland 85), Boyce, Catney, O'Connor (Clarke 72), Hutton.
Subs not used: Fleming, O'Hara, Jones.

Referee: Adrian McCourt (Bangor)

© UTV News