The Blues might have taken the lead after 15 minutes only for Damien Curran's effort to be deflected wide while at the other end Stuart Addis did well to tip a powerful Mickey Collins header from a Sean Friars free-kick just over.

Later in the half Billy Joe Burns forced Paul Murphy into a superb stop to keep out his long range effort

And Winkie Murphy came closer still nine minutes after the break with a header against the bar from a Curran cross but the deadlock was eventually broken on 61 minutes when Martin - just on for the injured Michael Gault - beat Murphy with a right-foot shot inside the left upright.

Newry almost grabbed the equaliser five minutes from time when Ross Black crept almost unnoticed through the defence only for the ball to go out for a corner following swiftly by back-to-back efforts from Kevin Keegan and Stephen Ferguson which were blocked only yards from their target.

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