Loughgall reaping rewards for showing faith in title-winning side as Villagers make successful Premiership return

The Villagers could barely have dreamed of making a better start with a Caolan Loughran brace and Nathaniel Ferris penalty putting the visitors three up inside 26 minutes at the Showgrounds.

Ten of the starting eleven selected by Smith – taking charge in the absence of his brother Dean due to personal reasons – played a part in Loughgall’s Championship title run last season, during which they kept a record 19 clean sheets, only lost seven of 38 matches and scored 76 goals.

That defensive solidity was on show once again in their first Premiership appearance since 2007 and Smith says the coaching staff have full belief in the squad they’ve assembled at Lakeview Park.

“To be fair, I think we’ve carried on from what we did last year,” he said. "We’ve added three or four into the squad and they’ve bedded in really well with how we want to play the game.

"We believe in the guys that we have. The way we want to play football – we have a certain style that we want to stick to which is about being comfortable on the ball and the players that have been there for two or three years have got us out of the Championship and into the Premiership.

"We have rewarded the guys who have been there and we 100% believe in them. We’ve added a few to the squad and that has paid dividends because we’ve brought in the right characters.

"We work very hard in training on patterns and how we want to play and in the first half that really showed.

"I thought we were very comfortable in the first half and knocked the ball about really well. We were playing in the right areas, kept the ball and dominated from start to finish in the first half.

"Second half was different and we knew Newry were going to come at us. Mindset plays a big part and being 3-0 up I think sometimes you take it for granted.

"Overall with it being the first game in the Premiership we’re over the moon with three points but I’m more pleased with the performance.”

Goalscorer Ferris was superb in the first-half but perhaps fortunate to stay on the pitch after committing a foul while already on a yellow.

He was replaced by Benji Magee at the break and Smith says they couldn’t risk being reduced to 10 men with three points all but secured.

“I think he was very lucky to get away with the second,” he added. "We can’t take a chance.

"Three points won’t be a given every week – we’re going to have to fight tooth and nail for them.

"We couldn’t take a chance of being down to 10 men. It’s hard enough to play 11 v 11 – to have a man missing is not where we want to be.

"Nathaniel was excellent in the first half and a real handful.

"It was disappointing for us to have to take him off too but he fully understood and we didn’t want him walking a tightrope.”