On the 6th of August 1983 Ollie Ralph pulled on a Newry Town shirt for the very first time - featuring in a pre-season friendly against his home side Dundalk at Oriel Park.
Naturally Ollie scored our only goal of the game as we lost 2-1 to the Lilywhites. But things could have been oh so different for the man who would go on to break our all time appearance and goalscoring records..
Just a few days later Ollie played in a friendly for Glenavon against Banbridge Town and he went one better - scoring twice for the Lurgan Blues in a 4-2 victory.
It looked nailed on that Ralph was going to join Glenavon. And the fact that Willie Crawley - Ollie’s friend and former teammate at Dundalk had just signed at Mourneview just strengthened the cause..
Thankfully (for us anyway) Ollie done a u-turn and with just four days left until the start of the 1983/84 season he signed for us!
Ollie’s first appearance for Newey Town came as a substitute against Portadown in our first home game back in the top flight since 1940 which we won 2-1.
It would be over ten years before he would be named as a substitute again as he quickly established himself as one of the first names on the teamsheet.
Of his 600 appearances he started an incredible 591 games, only being used as a sub 9 times - four of which were in his final playing season in 1997/98!
Ollie was the definition of loyal. He could have gone to any team in the Irish League and scored goals. When other players left the club for more money or trophies - Ollie stayed. Always giving his all for the team.
As a player he had 14 great seasons with Newry Town and very rarely missed a game through injury. He finished as top scorer in 11 of those seasons and in 1989/90 he was the leading goalscorer in all competitions with 42 goals - none of which were penalties - he never actually took a penalty until December, 1990!
That fantastic season earned him a full sweep of awards including:
* NI PFA Player of the Year
* Ulster Footballer of the Year
* NI Football Writers Association Player of the Year
* 1st Sunday Life Goalscorer Award
In October, 1996 Ollie and Harry Fay took over from Matt Bradley as joint player/managers and 18 months later they guided us to the First Division title.
Ollie’s Numbers
APPEARANCES - 600
GOALS - 271
HONOURS:
County Antrim Shield x1
                 Mid Ulster Cup x 3
  Irish First Division x 1 (as joint manager)
HAT-TRICKS +: 15
20/10/1984 v Ards (3)
06/05/1985 v Portadown (3)
(Mid Ulster Cup Final)
23/04/1987 v Rathfriland (3)
22/08/1987 v Glenavon (3)
03/09/1988 v Distillery (3)
25/03/1989 v Distillery (3)
10/01/1989 v Camlough Rovers (5)
20/04/1989 v Dundela (4)
14/10/1989 v Ballymoney Utd (4)
18/11/1989 v Glenavon (3)
20/02/1990 v Coagh Utd (4)
23/04/1990 v Banbridge Town (3)
(Mid Ulster Cup Final)
05/01/1991 v H&W Welders (4)
28/03/1992 v Bangor (4)
25/03/1995 v Carrick Rangers (4)
OPPONENTS SCORED AGAINST
DISTILLERY 28
CARRICK RANGERS 24
ARDS 23
GLENAVON 20
BANGOR 17
LARNE 16
COLERAINE 15
CLIFTTONVILLE 13
BALLYMENA 13
PORTADOWN 12
BALLYCLARE 11
DUNDELA 7
OMAGH TOWN 7
CRUSADERS 6
LINFIELD 6
CAMLOUGH ROVERS 5
BALLYMONEY UTD 4
COAGH UTD 4
DUNGANNON SWIFTS 4
GLENTORAN 4
HANOVER 2
HW WELDERS 4
LOUGHGALL 4
BANBRIDGE TOWN 3
RATHFRILAND 3
WARRENPOINT TOWN 3
ANNAGH UTD 2
BRANTWOOD 2
CHIMNEY CORNER 2
TOBERMORE UTD 2
ARMAGH CITY 1
DUNMURRY YM 1
NEWRY TOWN RESERVES 1
OXFORD UTD 1
PARK FC 1
How lucky are we that he chose us over Glenavon!
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