Latest news with #CiaranBrennan
South Wales Argus
21-04-2025
- Sport
- South Wales Argus
Newport County AFC League Two safety confirmed, Walsall 0-0
County knew a win over promotion-chasing Walsall in yesterday's early kick-off at Rodney Parade would finish the job. A battling 0-0 draw after Ciaran Brennan was sent off 12 minutes from time wasn't enough to get over the line, but Carlisle had to win to keep Nelson Jardim's men sweating. And the Cumbrians, now managed by former Wales boss Mark Hughes, could only manage a 1-1 draw at Accrington so cannot now catch the Exiles. Speaking before safety was confirmed, Jardim said he was happy to secure a draw against Walsall - especially after the visitors had a stoppage-time winner eventually ruled out for handball. "It's a valuable point against a very good team that has spent a lot of months at the top of the table," said Jardim. "The way we competed and performed, and kept another clean sheet, and showed the fight and the organisation we need was positive. "I think it was quite even, and for spells we were the better team. After the red card we had to adjust a couple of things and the injuries also had an impact." Brennan was shown a straight red for what was deemed a dangerous challenge on Taylor Allen. "The red card was in the 78th minute but, with injury time, we had to play for 22 minutes a man down and we showed the character and the fight that sometimes these boys have been accused of not having," added Jardim, who felt the officials got it right in disallowing Oisin McEntee's goal at the death. "We could see it clearly. It was a handball and it was the right decision." In a dramatic finale to what had been a humdrum Easter Monday contest, County also lost substitute Josh Martin to injury after a collision with Walsall goalkeeper Tommy Simkin. "It was a nasty clash," said Jardim. "I can recall Jacob Carney getting sent off earlier in the season for a very similar situation. Obviously, with the amount of blood he had in his face, it looked serious." Martin is likely to miss the Exiles' penulimate match at Fleetwood Town on Saturday, while veteran defender James Clarke's season looks to be over after he was forced off with a groin strain in the first half. "Clarkey has been great, he's been playing a lot of games and we haven't been able to rotate the team as we'd wish," said Jardim. "He brings that experience to the back line that we lacked for part of the season. "But we knew that two games within four days was not going to be easy for him. "He had to come off with cramps in the last game but we felt it was the right decision to play him again. "It has come with a cost of losing him for the rest of the season."
BBC News
17-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Brennan hopes for improved away form following return
Ciaran Brennan hopes Newport County can replicate their strong Rodney Parade form when they play away from Exiles beat Harrogate Town 3-0 in south Wales on Saturday to earn a 10th home league triumph of the tally of 33 points gained on home soil under Nelson Jardim is the joint-fourth best return of any side on their own patch in the fourth tier this is in stark contrast to their away form, with only Tranmere Rovers having a worse record on the road than Newport in League Two this season."Every time we play at home, the crowd's great, they get behind us," said Brennan."I don't know if that's a contributing factor when we go away from home or not, it's hard to put your finger on it."All season we've shown we're a resilient group. All we've got to do is take our home form into the away games and we'll be fine."Brennan played in a more unfamiliar midfield role against Harrogate on his first start in two 24-year-old dislocated his shoulder in Newport's 3-2 loss at Port Vale on 18 January, but admits he always backed himself to return to Nelson Jardim's line-up once he made a full recovery."It was tough, not easy. I had to dip into my mental reserves [against Harrogate] at one point," he added."I've been working hard behind the scenes. I got some minutes against Accy (Accrington Stanley) but the game was almost gone by the time I came on."I'm a confident lad, I back myself to get back in the team and hopefully that's what I've done."I thought I was in a good groove of games [before the injury], I'd played every minute of every game, I felt strong and confident, but that's football. I'm ready to go again."
