MATCH PREVIEW: Newry City v Newington

Can we secure a third successive home league victory, improve our record against Newington and close the gap on third place to just one point?

We return to Championship action on Friday evening when we welcome Newington to the Showgrounds, with both sides looking to bounce back from midweek League Cup disappointment.

Just four points separate the teams heading into the encounter, with the visitors occupying third place in the Championship table on 23 points, while we sit sixth on 19.

With recent meetings between the clubs producing plenty of goals and drama, another intriguing encounter could be in store under the Showgrounds floodlights.

🟥 SPICY!! 🟥

The last 6 meetings has produced 6 red cards

Recent Form

We return to league action following Tuesday evening’s disappointing 3–0 League Cup defeat away to Premiership opposition Carrick Rangers.

Prior to that, we earned a 1–1 draw away to Queen’s University at Blanchflower Stadium, where Ryan Swan’s first-half equaliser secured a share of the spoils.

Newington, meanwhile, have experienced a mixed run of results despite their lofty position in the table.

The Belfast side returned to winning ways last Friday with a dramatic 3–2 victory away to Moyola Park, recovering from a two-goal half-time deficit to claim all three points.

That result followed consecutive defeats against Ards and Institute, including a heavy 7–0 loss at the Brandywell earlier this month.

Like ourselves, Newington were also eliminated from the BetMcLean League Cup on Tuesday evening, suffering a 3–1 home defeat against Premiership opposition Ballymena United.

Head-to-Head

There has only ever been eight previous competitive encounters between the sides and Newington can boast the upper hand..

Of those eight meetings, we have recorded just two victories with one draw and five defeats, scoring 14 goals and conceding 16.

Recent meetings have also generally favoured the Belfast side, who have won three of our last five encounters.

The most recent meeting came on 19 April 2025, when Newington edged an entertaining five-goal Championship encounter 3–2 at Inver Park.

Our last victory against Newington came on 19 October 2024, when we produced an impressive second-half comeback to secure a 3–1 victory at the Showgrounds.

From the Archives:

A Showgrounds Comeback

Friday’s encounter falls almost exactly two years after our last victory against Newington, a memorable afternoon at the Showgrounds on 19 October 2024.

On that occasion, the visitors took the lead through Joshua Diver in the 39th minute, leaving us trailing 1–0 at the interval.

However, we emerged from the dressing room with renewed determination and produced an impressive second-half turnaround.

Fra McCaffrey restored parity just two minutes after the restart, before Adam Carroll struck in the 63rd minute to put us ahead.

With the match approaching its conclusion, Donal Scullion added a third goal in the 86th minute to complete a memorable 3–1 victory.

Team News

While the squad has been down to the bare bones these last few games the word is that Caolan Marron and Jack Chambers are hopefully in line for a comeback while Ryan Swan and Keith Dalton - who were missing against Carrick - should be back in contention.

Key Man

Lorcan Forde

Lorcan has been in great form recently. He is the only Newry player to have featured in every single game this season and has history with Newington - in four games against them he has scored FOUR goals including a hat-trick in a 3-3 draw at Inver Park.. but he has also been sent off TWICE!.. lets hope we see the positive side of Lorcan come friday!

Match Information

Newry City v Newington

Competition: NIFL Championship

Date: Friday 23 October 2026

Kick-off: 7:45pm

Venue: The Showgrounds, Newry