Donnelly has decisive say as Glenavon forced to dig deep
IT was hard-fought, but it was another win in the bank for Gary Hamilton’s Glenavon as they just about got past a plucky Newry City at The Showgrounds.
All the goals came in the first half with Gary Muir’s penalty and Steo Donnelly’s strike putting the Lurgan Blues 2-0 up before Stephen Teggart pulled one back for Darren Mullen’s side just before half-time.
However, there were to be no more goals despite City pushing hard for a leveller after the break.
The victory leaves the Lurgan Blues level on points with Premiership leaders Coleraine and Linfield.
Newry were unable to turn their early dominance into clearcut chances or goals.
Their first opportunity arose in the third minute when some pressing from Declan Carville, Mark McCabe and full debutant Conall Delaney saw them bustle their way into the Glenavon penalty area.
When the ball eventually broke free, McCabe had a go at goal but could only lift his effort over.
They went even closer a minute later when Teggart found space on the left side of the area but his low shot flew wide.
The visitors had a sight of goal in the fifth minute when Mark Sykes cracked in a low shot from 25 yards that had Andy Coleman scrambling to his right, but the ball whistled just past the upright.
After Teggart had shot straight at Jonny Tuffey, Glenavon took the lead just shy of the midway point in the first half.
Andrew Mitchell’s through ball to Sykes saw Coleman hesitate coming off his line. That allowed Sykes to get to the ball first and although contact between the players looked minimal, it was enough for the Glenavon midfielder to go down and referee Tim Marshall pointed to the spot.
Muir, a late replacement at the back for Andrew Doyle who pulled up in the warm-up, sent Coleman the wrong way from the resultant penalty to make it 1-0.
Less than a minute later, it could have been two when Sykes saw his shot well beaten out by Coleman. However, the away side
did double their lead four minutes after the half-hour and once more there was hesitation from keeper Coleman. A hooked ball down the right-hand channel by Sykes saw Donnelly race towards it.
With the City defence caught on their heels, the striker got to the ball ahead of the advancing
Coleman to poke his effort into the unguarded net and make it 2-0.
But Newry gave themselves a lifeline just a minute before the interval with a classic counter-attack goal.
Delaney did well on the edge of his own box before finding Mark Hughes on the left. The City captain advanced from his own half before sliding the ball through to Teggart and the youngster beat Tuffey at his near post for his first goal in City colours.
The Lurgan Blues almost restored their two-goal advantage just three minutes after the restart when Donnelly did well on the left to tee up Josh Daniels inside the box but Coleman did well to save.
Coleman then made a superb stop from point-blank range on 67 minutes to keep out Rhys Marshall’s header from Mitchell’s corner. At the other end, Newry should have drawn level when Dara Noonan headed Teggart’s free-kick back across goal, but the ball somehow popped into the grateful Tuffey’s arms.