Armagh should have gone in front as early as the eighth minute when Sean Cleary burst free down the left-hand side. With the Newry defence on the back foot, he centred for an unmarked Shane Coney just inside the area.

However, he failed to control the ball and it was quickly cleared to safety.



Newry were looking to end a slump in form and Paul Prigent was doing his best to make that happen from the left side.

Picking up the ball from a Lee Feeney dummy on the quarter hour, Prigent cut inside and blasted a right-foot shot that Stuart Addis was equal to.

The midfielder then whipped the ball across the six-yard box on 32 minutes, but nobody in a Newry shirt could provide the finishing touch.



Just before half-time Richard Clarke drilled the ball low past Addis from 20 yards.



Friars grabbed the second on 73 minutes when he got on the end of a rebound after Prigent's shot had been palmed out by Addis. Two minutes later, he turned provider for brother Emmett to head home.





NEWRY CITY: Robinson, King, C Feeney, McLaughlin, E Friars, Clarke (Kearns 75), L Feeney (Brown 45), McDonnell, Donegan, S Friars (Anderson 78), Prigent. Subs (not used): Hudson, Curran.



ARMAGH CITY: Addis, McBirney (McCann 52), Turkington, Gracey, G Fitzpatrick, Hawthorne, T Fitzpatrick, Cullen, Cleary (McGerrigan 79), Coney, Hyndes (Forker 75). Subs (not used): McSorley, Latimer.



Referee: Michael McLaughlin (Belfast).