STORY OF THE MATCH: Newry City 0 - 3 Loughgall - Villagers make winning Premiership return with victory over Newry City

Five summer signings made their debuts for Newry City with Georgie Poynton, Adam Salley, Darragh Owens, Barney McKeown (returning for a second spell at the Showgrounds) and Lee Newell all included in Gary Boyle’s first team as manager while Alberto Balde made his Loughgall bow after joining from Portadown.

NEWRY CITY: Maguire, King, Healy, McKeown, Hughes, Lockhart, Salley, Forde, Newell, Poynton, Owens.

Subs: Murphy, O’Connor, Carroll, Bagnall, Martin, Healy, Mooney.

LOUGHGALL: Turker, Rea, Murdock, Kelly, Andrade, Teggart, Ferris, Hoey, Cartwright, Balde, Loughran.

Subs: Devine, Carson, McAleer, Norton, Patton, McMenemy, Magee

STORY OF THE MATCH

FIRST HALF

7: First chance of the game falls to Loughgall with Nathaniel Ferris swivelling after good work down the left, but Maguire saves with his feet and ball goes out for a corner.

Slight scramble in the box and Ferris almost scores again! Another corner…

9: GOAL! Newry City 0 - 1 Loughgall (Loughran)

Dream start for the visitors, making their first Premiership appearance since 2007!

Jamie Rea's corner finds the head of Caolan Loughran and he puts Loughgall ahead.

13: Thomas Lockhart (Newry City) shown the first yellow of the game for a mistimed sliding challenge

16: Nathaniel Ferris (Loughgall) now goes into Jamie Robinson's book for a foul on Barney McKeown

21: PENALTY LOUGHGALL! Hoey looked to have put too much weight on his pass to Rea, but left-back makes the ground and is fouled by Darren King

22: GOAL: Newry City 0 - 2 Loughgall (Ferris, penalty). Ferris slams it down the middle and puts Loughgall two up at the Showgrounds. King received a yellow for his tackle on Rea

26: GOAL: Newry City 0 - 3 Loughgall (Loughran). Loughran finds the net once again as he's left in acres of space at the back post. Controls Andrade's cross and slots past Maguire

28: Chants of 'we are top of the league' coming from the away end. Dream start to life back in the Premiership for Loughgall!

HALF TIME: Newry City 0 - 3 Loughgall (Loughran x2, Ferris, pen)

Loughgall make a storming return to top-flight football with a Caolan Loughran double and Nathaniel Ferris penalty giving the visitors a healthy lead heading into the break

SECOND HALF

46: Second half about to get underway. One change at the break for Loughgall with Benji Magee replacing goalscorer Ferris

Gary Boyle replaces Georgie Poynton and Daragh Owens with Ciaran O'Connor and Liam Bagnall as the hosts look to get back into the game

66: Hoey, Loughran, Murdock (Loughgall) and Newry boss Boyle have all been booked in the first 20 minutes of the second half. No clear cut chances for either side.

Hoey now replaced by Robbie Norton and Caolan McAleer comes on for Balde.

69: Pablo Andrade can’t control in the box after good work from substitute Magee when it looked like he would have been able to unleash a shot on the Newry goal. Corner soon after comes to nothing for Loughgall

79: McAleer finds himself in acres of space down the left and tries to get his cross in, but Lorcan Forde recovers in time to stop any potential danger. Shot from the resulting corner blazes over the bar.

83: Loughgall stand-in boss Andrew Smith another name in Robinson’s book after complaints on the sideline

90: Three minutes added on

91: RED CARD: Thomas Lockhart (Newry City) shown a straight red for kicking out at a Loughgall player. Things go from bad to worse for the hosts

FULL TIME: Newry City 0 – 3 Loughgall