Larne breaks 10-year-old Northern Irish record to play in European competition

Larne have become the first Northern Irish side to qualify for the group stage of an European competition, following their victory over Lincoln Red Imps at Inver Park yesterday.

Lincoln Red Imps won the first leg 2-1 last week and were on the brink of qualifying when Bernardo Lopes gave them the lead in yesterday’s clash.

A hat-trick from Andy Ryan turned the tie over for Larne who advanced 4-3 on aggregate and have booked their spot for today’s UEFA Europa Conference League draw, the first Northern Irish club to do so.

Besides conceding first, Larne also had Chris Gallagher sent off due to a second bookable offence but Ryan’s heroics was enough to send them through.

Since the creation of the NIFL Premiership in the 2013/2014 season, no team has managed to play in any European competition with Tienan Lynch’s men now set to become the first team to do so.

The Northern Irish champions are now set to enjoy from the largesse that accrues to teams playing in Europe as they are set to receive approximately £2.6m in participation money and stand a chance of pocketing £336,000 for any game won in the group stage and £112,000 for a draw.

Larne beat Linfield to the NIFL Premiership title last season by five points which secured them a spot in the Conference League qualifiers and defeated FK RFS in the first qualification tie before beating FC Ballkani and Lincoln Red Imps.