Irish Premiership: McCabe lobs Newry City to away win over disjointed Coleraine
Last updated on .From the section Irish
A fine Mark McCabe lob gave Newry City their first away points of the season as they defeated a disjointed Coleraine 1-0 at the Showgrounds.
McCabe's decisive goal came in the 35th minute when the striker side-footed over goalkeeper Chris Johns for his first goal of the season.
Stephen Hughes had a chance to double the lead but Johns made a superb save.
Stephen O'Donnell came closest for Coleraine but his first-half header was cleared off the line by Hughes.
It is now two defeats in a row for the Bannsiders who remain sixth in the table, 12 points behind leaders Linfield.
Newry stay second bottom but are now just one point behind 10th-placed Dungannon Swifts.
McCabe's goal owed a lot to a fine pass from Dale Montgomery and, with the ball sitting up invitingly, the striker showed great composure to side-foot a clinical lob over Johns.
The goal arrived during the home side's best spell of the match after an opening 20 minutes in which they failed to threaten.
The closest Rodney McAree's men came was a Stephen O'Donnell header that looked like it was sailing into the net before Hughes headed clear off the line.
Before that, Darren McCauley cut inside from the left and forced a save from Newry's stand-in goalkeeper Steven Maguire, while midfielder Ciaron Harkin did the same with a curler from 20 yards.
Maguire was called into action again on the hour when Josh Carson struck a well-angled drive but the keeper, in for the suspended Andy Coleman, dived to tip round his post.
McAree introduced Eoin Bradley for the injured Stephen Lowry at half time and the striker appealed for a penalty from a Darragh Noonan challenge but referee Tony Clarke waved play on.
The onslaught the home fans might have expected in the closing stages never materialised and it was Newry who almost scored again with 10 minutes remaining. Hughes was clean through on goal but Johns came rushing off his line to make a superb save.
What they said
Newry City manager Darren Mullen: "I'm just delighted for the players. You could see that they had to dig deep in that second half.
"They've worked hard for this. It's another three points that we needed. That first away win is a monkey off our back and now we've got to go Dungannon next week."
Coleraine manager Rodney McAree: ""It's a tough result but we got what we deserved. I think the hungrier team on the night and the team that showed the greater desire won the game.
"We had a lot of ball, we had a lot of territory, but ultimately we didn't do enough whenever we got into those areas and that's been a recurring theme. It was the same last week at Warrenpoint. We're not showing the determination that we need to get the ball into the back of the net and we're not showing the determination that's needed to win games of football."
