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Larne F.C.

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Larne
Full nameLarne Football Club
Founded1889; 135 years ago (1889)
GroundInver Park, Larne
County Antrim
Capacity3,000[1]
OwnerKenny Bruce[2]
ChairmanGareth Clements
ManagerTiernan Lynch
LeagueNIFL Premiership
2022–231st (Champions)
WebsiteClub website
Current season

Larne Football Club is a professional Northern Irish football club based in Larne, County Antrim, that plays in the NIFL Irish Premiership.

History

The club was founded in 1889 and plays its home matches at Inver Park. The club's colours are red and white, and the club's main rivals are Carrick Rangers, Ballymena United and Ballyclare Comrades. From 1972 until 2008, the club had senior status, but reverted to intermediate status when it failed to gain a place in the new IFA Premiership. The club regained senior status in 2016, when the NIFL Championship became the second tier of senior football for the 2016–17 season.

Larne have notably been runners-up of the Irish Cup on six occasions (1928, 1935, 1987, 1989, 2005 and 2021) and runners-up of the League Cup twice (1991–92 and 2003–04) without ever winning either Cup - a record in both respective competitions for the most final appearances without ever winning.[3][4]

After being taken over by Purplebricks co-founder Kenny Bruce in October 2018,[5] the club lifted the 2018–19 NIFL Championship title. This was the club's first ever senior tier league title, their first league title since an intermediate title win in 1972, and the first senior honour since lifting the Ulster Cup in 1988. This secured a return to the top flight for the first time since suffering relegation to the second tier in the 2007–08 season after failing to meet the criteria for the new IFA Premiership.

In their fourth season back in the top flight, The Inver Reds would win a historic first NIFL Premiership league title in 2023 following a 2-0 win over Crusaders in April 2023.[6] As a result of this, the club would make their first ever appearance in the qualifiers for the UEFA Champions League in the summer of 2023, taking on Finnish giants HJK Helsinki. [7]

Larne Women's Team

Larne also have a women's team who were originally formed in November 2004, before being reincorporated back into the club in 2018, having been previously dormant for a number of years. In their inaugural season, they finished the season as the unbeaten North 2 League Champions, and also as beaten finalists in the North 2 League Cup. They now for the first time play in the top tier in 2023 (NIFL Women's Premiership) of the Northern Ireland Women's football league system after 4 consecutive promotions. [8]

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Scotland SCO Rohan Ferguson
2 DF Scotland SCO Shaun Want
3 DF England ENG Ali Omar
4 DF Northern Ireland NIR Aaron Donnelly
5 DF Northern Ireland NIR Craig Farquhar
6 MF Scotland SCO Joe Thomson
7 MF Republic of Ireland IRL Daniel Kearns
8 MF England ENG Mark Randall
9 FW Northern Ireland NIR Paul O’Neill
10 FW Northern Ireland NIR Lee Bonis
16 MF Northern Ireland NIR Shea Gordon
No. Pos. Nation Player
17 FW England ENG Isaac Westendorf
18 DF Republic of Ireland IRL Cian Bolger
20 FW Northern Ireland NIR Thomas Maguire
21 MF Northern Ireland NIR Leroy Millar (vice-captain)
22 DF Northern Ireland NIR Micheál Glynn
23 DF Northern Ireland NIR Tomás Cosgrove (captain)
25 MF Northern Ireland NIR Dylan Sloan
26 MF Northern Ireland NIR Corey Smith
28 GK England ENG Aidan Dowling
29 FW Scotland SCO Andy Ryan
31 DF Australia AUS Nicholas Aretzis

On Loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF Northern Ireland NIR Ethan Simpson (On loan at Ballyclare Comrades until 1st July 2024)
30 FW Northern Ireland NIR Matthew Lusty (On loan at Dungannon Swifts until 1st July 2024)

Non-playing staff

Position Staff
Manager Tiernan Lynch
Assistant manager Seamus Lynch
First-team coach Gary Haveron
Goalkeeping coach Alan Blayney
Strength & Conditioning coach Stuart McCammon
Head Physiotherapist Paddy Douglas
Head of Performance Analysis Oliver Byrne
Kit Manager Martin Bird
Physiotherapist Joe Crawford
Club doctor Adam McClintock
Entertainment Manager Lewis Perry McAdam
General Manager Niall Curneen
Marketing Manager Dean Houston

European record

Main article: Northern Irish football clubs in European competitions

Overview

Competition Matches W D L GF GA
UEFA Champions League
1
0
0
1
0
1
UEFA Europa Conference League
8
4
2
2
6
7
TOTAL
9
4
2
3
6
8

Matches

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Agg.
2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League 1QR Wales Bala Town 1–0 1–0 2–0
2QR Denmark AGF Aarhus 2–1 1–1 3–2
3QR Portugal Paços de Ferreira 1–0 0–4 1–4
2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League 1QR Gibraltar St Joseph's 0–1 0–0 0–1
2023–24 UEFA Champions League 1QR Finland HJK 0–1

UEFA ranking

As of 7 May 2023[9]
Rank Team Points
338 Albania Vllaznia 3.000
339 Faroe Islands Vikingur 3.000
340 Northern Ireland Larne 3.000
341 Malta Floriana 3.000
342 Republic of Ireland Derry City 3.000

Honours

Senior honours

Intermediate honours

† Won by Larne Olympic (reserve team)

Junior honours

  • Irish Junior Cup: 1
    • 1900–01

References

  1. ^ "NIFL Premiership Football Grounds In Northern Ireland". footballgroundmap.com. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  2. ^ "Larne FC owner Kenny Bruce lobbied Stormont parties to back embattled Mid and East Antrim council boss after NI Protocol letter row". Belfast Live. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Northern Ireland - List of League Cup Finals". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. RSSSF. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  4. ^ "Northern Ireland Cup Finals". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. RSSSF. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  5. ^ Purplebricks co-founder wants to bring 'Champions League music' to Larne BBC Sport. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  6. ^ "Larne secure historic first Irish League title with 2-0 win at Crusaders". BBC Sport. 14 April 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  7. ^ "Honours Even as Gibson Cup Arrives at Inver". Larne FC Website. 22 April 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  8. ^ "Womens Team History". Larne FC Website. 29 April 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  9. ^ UEFA.com. "Member associations – UEFA Coefficients – Club coefficients". Archived from the original on 13 January 2013.
  10. ^ "Larne secure historic first Irish League title". BBC Sport. BBC. 14 April 2023.
  11. ^ "Co Antrim Shield: Impressive Larne see off Linfield in gripping final to retain trophy". BBC Sport. BBC. 11 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  12. ^ Brodie, Malcolm. Belfast Telegraph Northern Ireland Soccer Yearbook 1999/2000. p. 11
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