Larne F.C.

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

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

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. [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 Republic of Ireland IRL Graham Kelly
5 MF Republic of Ireland IRL Fuad Sule
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
15 DF Northern Ireland NIR Aaron Donnelly
16 MF Northern Ireland NIR Shea Gordon
17 MF England ENG Max Hutchison
18 DF Republic of Ireland IRL Cian Bolger
19 MF Scotland SCO Joe Thomson
20 FW Northern Ireland NIR Thomas Maguire
21 MF Northern Ireland NIR Leroy Millar
No. Pos. Nation Player
22 DF Northern Ireland NIR Micheál Glynn
23 DF Northern Ireland NIR Tomás Cosgrove
25 MF Northern Ireland NIR Dylan Sloan
27 FW South Africa RSA BJ Banda
28 GK England ENG Jamie Pardington
29 FW Scotland SCO Andy Ryan
30 FW Northern Ireland NIR Matthew Lusty
33 MF Northern Ireland NIR Harry Adair
38 MF Northern Ireland NIR Caolan Donnelly
39 FW Northern Ireland NIR Conall Curran
42 DF Northern Ireland NIR Sean Brown
– MF Netherlands NED Randy Wolters
— MF Northern Ireland NIR Andrew Mitchell

Out 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
32 DF Northern Ireland NIR Max Greer (at Knockbreda until 1st July 2023)
No. Pos. Nation Player
37 DF Australia AUS Ryley D'Sena (at Bangor until 1st July 2023)
– DF Northern Ireland NIR Odhran McCart (at Lisburn Distillery until 1st July 2023)

Non-playing staff
Position Staff
ManagerTiernan Lynch
Assistant managerSeamus Lynch
First-team coachGary Haveron
Goalkeeping coachAlan Blayney
Strength & Conditioning coachStuart McCammon
Head PhysiotherapistPaddy Douglas
Head of Performance AnalysisOliver Byrne
Kit ManagerMartin Bird
PhysiotherapistJoe Crawford
Club doctorAdam McClintock
Entertainment ManagerLewis Perry McAdam
General ManagerNiall Curneen
Marketing ManagerDean Houston

European record
Main article: Northern Irish football clubs in European competitions

Overview
Competition Matches W D L GF GA
UEFA Europa Conference League
8
4
2
2
6
7
TOTAL
8
4
2
2
6
7

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

UEFA ranking
As of 7 May 2023[9]
RankTeamPoints
338Albania Vllaznia3.000
339Faroe Islands Vikingur3.000
340Northern Ireland Larne3.000
341Malta Floriana3.000
342Republic of Ireland Derry City3.000

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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