Newry City looking to get new manager sorted quickly says Darren Mullen

​Newry City’s season came to an end with a 3-0 loss at home to Institute on Saturday – their twenty-first defeat in 38 league games.

Things were looking very bleak for Newry – who came into the game already relegated following last week’s 3-2 loss to Newington – when the visitors raced into a 2-0 lead midway through the first half, with goals from Callum Deery and Callum McCay.

Although it didn’t turn into a rout, Stute put the game beyond all doubt on 67 minutes when Mikhail Kennedy added their third of the day.

“I suppose the start of the game summed up our season. We had a great opportunity to go 1-0 up, didn't take it, they go up and score,” Newry City manager Darren Mullen told the club’s social media channel post-match.

“Then we had another great opportunity and they go up and score after it again, so it probably sums up our season. The rest of the game just petered out. We were hoping it wasn't going to be a dead rubber but it's a difficult game to play in for anybody because of the nature of it.

“The lads tried hard but it wasn't a great game. It was a painful watch to be honest, but that's it, it's over now.”

As mentioned last week, the end of the season marks the end of Mullen’s time in charge of the club as manager, as he will be moving into a committee role, tasked with finding his replacement – and everyone around the club is hopeful that whoever they select is capable of turning things around following back-to-back relegations.

“I said last week it was probably a time for feeling sorry for ourselves, now it's a case of moving on and fixing it.

“That process has started in the background to try and fix it because as painful as this has been, the worst thing we can do is let it drag on; we have to change it very quickly.

“It's alright saying rebuild it and put a load of young fellas in, but that doesn't work either. It has to be that balance and that mix of players who have experience and also young lads coming through. We didn't get that balance right this year.

“It's a difficult league (the Playr-Fit Premier Intermediate League), you're going in as probably one of the favourites for it but there's nothing given in it. We need to make sure we get the right recruitment, first of all to get the right manager, that's important. And then after that to make sure we give them as much support as possible to get the right players in.

“But I think it's about getting that balance right in terms of experience, the physicality as well because you have to earn the right to play football. Sometimes you're going to have to dig in and it mightn't be pretty but as long as you're getting results (is the most important thing).

“So, that process has already started in terms of trying to identify a new manager and hopefully over the next two or three weeks things will speed up and we can get to the stage where we can look forward to next season.”

MATCH STATS

Newry City: Mitchell, King, Healy (D McParland 71), O’Brien, Carroll (Fallon 58), Forde, Moan (S McParland 77), McNickle, McEnteggart (Taggert HT), McGrath (Doran 58), Dorans

Unused subs: Donnelly, Harvey.