John Quigg on board at Institute as goals from Sean Carlin and Mikhail Kennedy earn victory over Newry

Institute 2

Newry 0

Sean Carlin picked the perfect time to score his first league goal for Institute as Kevin Deery’s side picked up only their third win of the season.

While it is too early in the season to describe this game as a ‘six-pointer’, it was important nonetheless, with both ‘Stute and Newry tied on points near the foot of the table. What made this an even more difficult proposition was the appointment of Darren Mullan during the week, who came in after the dismissal of Barry Gray, with Deery and his team no doubt wary of the ‘new manager bounce’, which many teams seem to get.

But it wasn’t to be for Newry as ‘Stute deservedly picked up a morale-boosting win, ahead of another important home game, against Ballinamallard this weekend. And Mullan wasn’t the only new face on show on Saturday, with John Quigg in alongside Deery as his new assistant, replacing Mo Mohan, recently named the manager of Portstewart.

“It was nice and comfortable and a good day’s work,” Deery said afterwards. “I felt a bit isolated for a few weeks, but we were getting a few results until last week obviously. I’m delighted to get John in – he’s vastly experienced, and driven still to try and compete and win, which we are and what we want at this club.

That was a big plus for me today, and the players responded really well. They took on the game plan in the second half particularly. We asked questions – last week against Bangor we didn’t come out in the second half and didn’t get anywhere near the levels we should have. We needed to respond here and we got two goals in the second half which is good and it’s a good omen to keep going that you can score goals late on.”

One-way

‘Stute had a real chance to open the scoring just after 10 minutes when Jamie Browne found himself through on goal, but he went for a difficult left-footed finish and Conor Mitchell was able to turn the ball behind for a corner.

Another chance came and went just before the half hour and it was clear cut yet again, as Michael Harris’ low cross from the right came straight to Kennedy who laid it off nicely for Caoimhin Porter, but the finish was poor, with the full back dragging it well off target.

Newry weren’t offering much at all at that point but they showed some sign of life when Adam Salley set up an opportunity for Dualta Honney, but with the angle against him, he was unable to beat Fintan Doherty.

Half Time 0-0

Kevin Deery was far from happy with his team in the early stages of the second half and made a forward-thinking change as a result. He introduced teenager Padraig Lynch from the substitutes’ bench and it had an immediate impact as ‘Stute took the lead.

Evan Tweed caught Newry out with a superb pass around the corner which set Lynch away and the substitutes’ cross came to Sean Carlin, who resisted the temptation of striking it first time, instead controlling it before lashing it past Mitchell, with the ball hitting the inside of the post before it smashed into the net.

Deery’s substitutions were working wonders and another, Stephen Doherty, was involved as ‘Stute doubled their lead on 76 minutes. His cross was perfect for Kennedy, who looked certain to head it into the net from close range, but even though he was denied by a brilliant save from Mitchell, he was able to sweep in the rebound from two yards to make it 2-0.

“You look at the results again – it’s such an up and down league that you just have to retain focus and keep doing everything that you believe in, which is be professional, show up, work hard your three nights and keep doing things right in warm ups and in games and hopefully it will turn, and thankfully we were able to get a result. We stuck to our principles. I had a chat to them and we can turn the screw another bit, so we’re not going to getting too excited. We go again next week and try and get three points.”

Teams

Institute: Fintan Doherty, Caoimhin Porter, Shane Boyle, Evan Tweed (James McClay 78’), Tiarnan McKinney (Padraig Lynch 59’), Sean Carlin (Tiarnan McGinty 66’) Conor Quigley, Berti Brandon Diau, Jamie Browne (Stephen Doherty 66’), Michael Harris (Oisin Duffy 78’), Mikhail Kennedy.  

Newry: Conor Mitchell, Ryan McGivern, Francis McCaffrey, Alex O’Brien (Evan McEnteggart 72’), Adam Salley, Adam Carroll, Lorcan Forde, Steven Ball, Ryan McNickle, Dualta Honney (Oisin Coleman 59’), Jamie O’Flaherty.

Referee: Ben Shepherd.