Clear Water Irish Cup sixth round: Newry City v Newington (Saturday, 3pm, Newry Showgrounds)
RICHARD Gowdy is irked by the very idea his Newington team-mates would be happy to give a good account of themselves against Irish Cup opponents Newry City on Saturday.
While Newry are propping up the Irish Premier League table, the managerial appointment of Barry Gray and some new signings in the January transfer window have injected more energy into the struggling Co Down club.
Newington, by contrast, continue to punch above their weight in only their second season in the NIFL Championship.
After a five-game winning streak at the start of their league campaign, the north Belfast men’s form has levelled out somewhat and currently sit in eighth position.
But Newington captain Gowdy insists they won’t travel to the Showgrounds with an inferiority complex.
“If you were to pick an Irish League team to draw in the cup you probably would have said Newry in all honesty,” says Gowdy, who has won two Steel & Sons Cups and a Premier Intermediate League title with Newington.
“I’m expecting to win the game. It’s very simple: I don’t want anybody going down thinking that getting to the last 16 of the Irish Cup is good enough. That’s not what we’re about.
“We won’t be happy with losing the game 1-0. That’s b******s. You have to put pressure on yourself to win the game.
“Any team in our league looking at the Newry fixture, they would take that. Why should we be any different? You can’t be happy playing the game and just giving a good account of yourself.
“You can’t argue – Newry are an Irish League club, and they will have some good technical players, but we see this as a winnable tie.”
A top-level Gaelic footballer with west Belfast club O’Donovan Rossa, Gowdy was on Cliftonville’s books in his youth before carving out a very successful career with Newington.
Gowdy, who will anchor the Newington midfield on Saturday, holds an uncomplicated view of the game – if you out-work your opponent, you will win more games than you’ll lose.
“As captain, what I ask of the players, and I reiterate it every match-day, is we work harder than the team we’re playing against. That is the least of our expectations - I’m not going to praise the players for working hard because when you sign for Newington that’s what’s expected of you.”
Gowdy did express his disappointment with Newington having to forfeit home advantage for Saturday’s cup clash.
The ‘Ton, as they’re affectionately known locally, are hosted by Larne FC at Inver Park – but Larne were also drawn out of the hat first – against Glenavon – which meant Newington had to seek agreement with Newry to play their Irish Cup tie on a Friday or a Sunday.
Newry declined the request and in keeping with competition rules, Newington now have to travel to the Showgrounds.
“I have to say Larne Football Club have been brilliant to us,” Gowdy acknowledged.
“They treat us really well. They even put name tags above our seats in the changing room, wee touches like that, they gave us our own key and we’ve made a bit of a home out of it.
“I feel we play very well on the pitch – minus the Bangor game and maybe the Ballinamallard game – so it’s very rare that teams turn us over up there.”
The west Belfast native added: “We were disappointed to lose home advantage, but it was to be expected, really.
“I don’t really need any extra motivation – it’s a cup game, there’s a quarter-final of the Irish Cup waiting on the winners. You shouldn’t need anything else to motivate you, especially coming after a disappointing result last week [a 3-1 away defeat to H&W Welders].”
They lost top goal-scorer Zach Barr to Portadown in the January transfer window and suffered a couple of other injuries in what has been an inconsistent month for Paul Hamilton’s side.
“We’re punching well above our weight – I don’t think anyone can deny that,” said Gowdy.
“Every team in the Championship has bigger resources than us. Big Zach left us to go to Portadown and, realistically, it’s hard to replace his goals.
“But we have a changing room full of good lads and hats off to ‘Hamo’ [Paul Hamilton], Conor [Crossan] and the coaching staff that have got the best out of the players. They bring quality in and don’t bring players in that aren’t going to improve the team.”