Europa Conference League: Larne make history

Larne made history by becoming the first Irish League club ever to make the group stages of European football at Inver Park tonight.

While they had Andy Ryan to thank, with his hat-trick seeing them through in the Europa Conference League, this was a full team performance from Tiernan Lynch’s side – especially having to play the final half an hour and more with 10 men following the dismissal of Chris Gallagher.

It was no more than the Irish Premiership champions deserved against the side from Gibraltar.

This was a performance full of work, full of desire and no shortage of tactical ability.

Despite Larne enjoying the bulk of the territory and possession in the opening exchanges, it was the visitors who had the first opportunity of the match.

A breakaway down the right saw Kike Gomez run at the Larne defence. He cut inside Cian Bolger before curling in a left-footed effort that Rohan Ferguson did well to push away.

However, it was just second later that Larne fell behind.

Nano’s long throw from the left was cleared back out to him and the full-back whipped in a looping cross that was met on the sidefoot volley by visiting captain Bernardo Lopes and he steered the ball home first time from 12 yards.

That silenced the home crowd and the away side went close to doubling their lead on 26 minutes following another lightning quick break.

This time it was Toni who tried his luck from 25 yards, and with the ball bouncing awkwardly in front of Ferguson, he was forced to shovel it round the post for a corner.

However, Larne deservedly drew level on the half hour mark through Andy Ryan’s penalty.

Following a VAR check, Swiss Referee Lukas Fahndrich pointed to the spot after Joe handled Dylan Sloan's cross and Ryan was coolness personified to send Nauzet Santana the wrong way from 12 yards.

Larne then took the lead on the night and drew level on aggregate to minutes before the break – and amazingly it was another penalty.

This time Chris Gallagher was fouled in the box by a combination of Graeme Torrilla and Ibrahim Ayew. Ryan went to opposite side this time, but with the same outcome.

That left the hosts with a 2-1 lead on the night and at 3-3 overall.

Larne were dealt a blow at half-time when Captain Cian Bolger had to go off with what looked like a hamstring injury. Jordan McEneff replaced him for his home debut, with Levi Ives moving to the centre of defence and Sean Graham dropping into left-back.

They went close to going in front on aggregate just a few minutes after the restart when Matthy Lusty stopped Joe Thomson’s shot in the box, only to then see his own shot blocked. From close range.

Larne then suffered a big setback just short of the hour mark when Gallagher was shown a second yellow card for a needless lunge when the ball seemed out of reach.

Then came the pivotal moment with a goal worthy of winning any match, let alone a two-legged tie.

On 83 minutes, it was Larne’s turn to hit the visitors on the counter-attack.

Ryan set sub Benji Magee scampering down the right-hand side and his return cross to his strike partner was controlled perfectly by Ryan and the Scot rifled home.

MATCH STATS

Larne: Ferguson, Cosgrove, Ives, Want, Bolger (C) (McEneff H-T), Thomson, Gallagher, Sloan, Ryan (Devlin 90+1), Lusty (Magee 78), S Graham

Subs not used: D Graham, McKendry, Randall, O’Neill, Glynn

Lincoln Red Imps: Santana, Nano, Ayew (Casciaro 86), Munoz, Torrilla (Yahaya 56), Lopes (C), Brito, Joe, Gomez, Toni (Villacanas 80), De Barr

Subs not used: Lopez, Smith, Pozo, Valarino, Martin, Clinton, Bent, Sciortino, Burnet

Referee: Lukas Fahndrich (Switzerland)