Although scoreless at the break both sides might have gone in at half-time with the advantage. Newry skipper Richard Clarke was denied after a quarter-of-an-hour by the legs of Coleraine 'keeper Davy O'Hare while Chris Morgan had a shot blocked by Matthew Crossan.

The Bannsiders came close on the half-hour mark when Richard Gibson had an almost certain goal cleared off the line by Ross Black before actually finding the net moments later only for it to be ruled out by referee Colin Burns for handball.

The deadlock was finally broken on 52 minutes, however, when Stephen Dooley crossed for Darren Cassidy to fire low into the bottom left corner.

And it was 2-0 a couple of minutes later. Black was adjudged to to have upended Dooley in the area and from the resultant spot-kick Paul Murphy was sent the wrong way by Gibson.

Dooley, having played a part in Coleraine's two earlier goals, capped a fine individual performance with the third on 68 minutes after the home defence failed to adequately clear a corner.