THIS match in the first round of the O'Brien Cup, was switched to the Swilly Stadium as the YMCA was deemed unplayable on Friday and Newton Heath started as favourites as they are the Premier division team.

As the match got under way Drumahoe started brightly as McDermott drove a shot from 25 yards which the keeper just managed to keep out.

Then Newton Heath took a stranglehold on the game and completely dominated proceedings. Their interplay and ball retention had Drumahoe on the back foot for long periods. It was only a matter of time and with 15 minutes gone Lafferty fired home from eight yards leaving the keeper no chance, to give Newton a deserved lead.

Ten minutes later Newton doubled their lead - after Drumahoe failed to clear the ball was crossed to the far post and was headed home by Doherty to put Newton well in the driving seat.

The second half started with Drumahoe keeping possession for the first time in the game and Newton seemed to have taken their foot off the pedal.

Then with an hour gone Harris picked up the ball just inside Newton's half and attacked down the right leaving two defenders in his wake. The referee played a good advantage and he broke into the box and coolly finished to put Drumahoe back in the game.

This great goal seemed to give Drumahoe some belief and they began to dominate possession with Harris again going close and Moore just firing wide. Then King received the ball inside the box; he turned one way then the other and just when the chance seemed to have gone he hammered the ball high into the roof of the net.

With 75 minutes gone King pounced on slack defending, and robbed the defender before rounding the keeper and put Dramahoe ahead for the first time in the game.

The final quarter was very exciting with the game becoming very stretched and both teams creating chances - with five minutes remaining Newton broke into the box but were thwarted by an excellent save by Mitchell in the Drumahoe goal.

With time almost up the Newton Heath striker was teeing up from 12 yards when a crunching tackle from McDermott cleared the danger and the game ended 3-2 to the Drums.

Difficult to pick anyone out for Drumahoe as there was so many heroes on the day but Mitchell in goals deserves a mention as does the referee David McLaughlin who kept the game flowing with a minimum of fuss and allowed the game to gain rhythm.

The game was played in great spirit with not one card being shown even though the game was played in very wet conditions.