THE appointment of Johnny McDonnell as Newry manager last week brought some much needed stability to The Showgrounds following the events of the previous week.

ON Sunday we played our first ever competitive league fixture against Cliftonville and it did appear to have a positive effect on the attendance numbers.

IF you had brought a friend along to last weeks match against Dungannon Swifts they wouldn’t have seen a hat-trick or a helicopter, but witnessed a poor performance by a Newry side that really should be beating teams like Dungannon at home if they want to improve on recent seasons.