Rodney McAree makes winning start to Glentoran reign

All eyes were on the Newry Showgrounds on Saturday afternoon as McAree took charge for the first time since replacing Mick McDermott in the Glens hot seat last week, and he couldn’t have dreamed for a better start as Northern Ireland international McGinn slotted a composed finish past Steven Maguire after only seven minutes.

The visitors looked comfortable on a heavy pitch and after dealing with a bright period from Newry, which included Aaron McCarey making a crucial diving save from a deflected shot, striker Donnelly spotted Maguire off his line and unleashed from 40 yards.

Despite the distance, there was a sense of inevitability about the ball’s destination from the moment it left Donnelly’s right boot and that moment of true brilliance helped light up a dreary afternoon and send his side into the break 2-0 up.

While in total control up until the interval, McAree’s men were put on the back foot immediately at the start of the second half as Thomas Lockhart played a superb through ball to James Teelan, who made no mistake to pull one back for Newry.

A hectic 10-minute spell then got even worse as centre-back Patrick McClean was caught on the ball by John McGovern and with the striker running through on goal, McClean had a choice to make and opted to bring him down, leaving referee Lee Tavinder with no alternative than to produce a red card.

Donnelly helped settle their nerves by netting his second of the afternoon shortly after his teammate’s dismissal to seal a first Danske Bank Premiership victory since November 26 and McAree was delighted to end the barren spell.

"It's a great feeling, especially coming off the run of results and performances we're coming off,” he said. “I thought we started very well and the first half we were exceptional on a heavy surface.

"I'm hugely happy with the players' character. Their character is unquestionable today - they played for the shirt, for each other and fought for every bit of the game and deserved the three points."

After a busy week since being named new boss, McAree admitted he was happy to have his first game – and win – out of the way.

"It has been a really long, hard and tiring week,” he added.

"I haven't had an awful lot of sleep through waking up thinking about the match, so I just wanted to get my first game out of the way so you can relax.

"The noise will start to quieten and we need to make sure we are putting in performances on the pitch that are satisfying ourselves. If we satisfy ourselves then we will be satisfying a lot of people around the club, so we need to focus on doing well."

NEWRY: Maguire, King, Healy, McGivern, Lockhart, Teelan, McGovern, Moan, Scullion, Montgomery (Healy 71), Lusty (Hughes 61).

Unused subs: Brady, Carville, Martin, Kwelele.

GLENTORAN: McCarey, Kane, McCullough, Burns (R Donnelly 71), McCartan (Crowe 56), Marshall, J Donnelly (Purkiss 79), McClean, Devlin, Wightman (Plum 79), McGinn (Smith 79).

Unused subs: Webber, O’Connor.

REFEREE: Lee Tavinder.