Newcastle drowned out in third round

Newcastle drowned out in third round

2 November 2022

NEWCASTLE bowed out of the Irish Cup after suffering a 5-1 defeat in torrid conditions to Portadown outfit St Mary’s at Drumaness on Saturday.

Despite only trailing by the minimum at half-time, the Seasiders failed to get going after the interval and were subjected to a miserable afternoon.

The only positive for the locals to reflect on was a nicely taken headed goal by Philip Bonny but, alas, this served only as a late consolation.

With the rain pounding down on the pitch, conditions were far from ideal with players struggling to play free-flowing football.

Both teams struggled in the opening stages but St Mary’s adapted quickest and took the lead after 13 minutes as a Shea Conaty free-kick slipped from the grasp of Newcastle ‘keeper Jack McLaughlin and into the path of Marc Davidson for an easy finish.

Newcastle responded with a long ranged effort from captain Andrew Watson, which narrowly missed the target, before defender Pearse McCarthy sent in an inviting cross to team-mate David McKenna.

However, the striker’s touch let him down at the crucial moment.

Newcastle’s misfortune continued when skipper Watson saw his lowly driven effort hit the wrong side of the post.

It wouldn’t be long until the Seasiders would come under the cosh as St Mary’s pushed for their second.

A mixture of poor finishing and solid defending saw Newcastle trail by one as referee Mark Irwin signalled for the interval.

The rain showed no signs of letting up as play resumed but Newcastle looked rejuvenated as they instantly went on the attack.

Yet another McCarthy cross proved a headache for the St Mary’s backline, as this time the ball ricocheted off ‘keeper Conor Larkin, but Watson’s followed up effort went wide.

Newcastle midfielder Darragh Rooney stung the hands of custodian Larkin with a rasping effort but the Seasiders still failed to make a breakthrough.

Despite this pressure, it would be St Mary’s who would notch the first goal of the half as defender Dillon Hughes converted substitute Niall Robinson’s delivery.

Just three minutes later Newcastle conceded again, this time from a mix up in defence which allowed St Mary’s striker Sebastian Skornicki to receive a pass before tucking away his effort with aplomb. 

Newcastle continued to be penned back into their half as they went in search of gathering any sort of momentum.

However, it just seemed to be one of those afternoons to forget.

Any hopes of a dramatic comeback were dashed when Robinson curled in the goal of the afternoon for his St Mary’s team to make it 4-0.

Newcastle’s misery was completed two minutes later when winger Aje Dasilva poked home from close range to round off the St Mary’s scoring.

To Newcastle’s credit, even with the weather worsening and the match over as a contest, the Seasiders continued to rally and attempted to restore some pride.

They were rewarded with a little over 15 minutes to go after Watson’s pinpoint free-kick 

delivery lofted on to the head of team-mate Philip Bonny, who powered his effort past ‘keeper Larkin.

However, this would be as good as it got as the rest of the game was played out at a deteriorating pace.

Newcastle: J McLaughlin, P McCarthy, C Keaveney,  N Doran, J Maginn, P Bonny, L Moore, D Rooney, D McKenna, G Moore, A Watson (capt).

Subs: C Keenan, S Young, M Young.

St Mary’s YC: C Larkin, D Hughes, F McAliskey, J Mallon, M Davidson, S Skelton (capt), I Monteiro, S Conaty, T Weir, S Skornicki, A Dasilva.

Subs: C Hendron, N Robinson, P Campbell, S Mallon.

Referee: Mark Irwin.