Friday 20 September
Kick Off 7.45pm
Tomorrow night we visit Larne looking for a strong performance and result against the Sports Direct Premiership Champions.
With several fixtures having been postponed due to Larne’s historic run to qualification for the Europa Conference League group stages, Larne find themselves in 10th place in the early season table. The four games they have played have seen them pick up one win and two draws away from home but they suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat to Ballymena United in their only league fixture at Inver Park so far.
With Lee Bonis having departed in the summer for Dutch side ADO Den Haag, manager Tiernan Lynch brought in the highly coveted Benji Magee from Loughgall to supplement his attacking options, along with winger Conor McKendry from Coleraine and midfielder Jordan McEneff. Having only scored one league goal from open play so far, Lynch will be hoping his new options are going to gel quickly in tandem with top marksman Andy Ryan.
At the other end of the pitch, with loanee Jaziel Orozco having returned to Real Salt Lake after starring in last season’s title win, Larne have brought in Ryan Nolan from Spanish side Hércules and Sam Todd and Josh Seary on loan from Derry City and Preston North End respectively. Former Spurs and Wimbledon midfielder George Marsh is also a major coup, signing up after leaving Cypriot side AEL Limassol in the close season.
Larne won all four league games between the sides last season as well as the County Antrim Shield Final at Seaview in January. Inspirational midfielder Leroy Millar and experienced Centre Back Cian Bolger have not featured in any league matches yet due to injury and full back Aaron Donnelly has missed the last two matches.
Declan Devine: “After two disappointing defeats I was very happy with how the players approached the Loughgall game on Tuesday night, particularly how positive we were from the start, getting Jay’s goal after two very poor games in front of goal. There were some very good performances in all areas of the team. I’m pleased with how all the new lads have settled into the club but fitness wise they’re playing a bit of catch up with the lads who had pre-season here. But I can see them starting to catch up a bit and I’m confident that when they’re completely up to speed we’ll see a lot of quality from them.
"We know that we are in for a very tough time against a very good team on Friday night. Larne may not have had the best of starts in the league but they are double champions for a reason with a lot of very good players and plenty of strength in depth. We’re not at that place yet when it comes to available options, really looking forward to the challenge because if you want to achieve things then you need to be able to meet the best head on.”
Remaining tickets for this game can be purchased HERE from the Larne website.
