Uefa Europa Conference League qualifying play-off round, second leg
Larne 3 Lincoln Red Imps 1 (agg: 4-3)
ANDY Ryan’s hat-trick sealed an incredible comeback as Larne booked their place in the Europa Conference League group stages – the first Irish League side ever to do so.
Tiernan Lynch’s men were 1-0 down on the night to fall 3-1 behind on aggregate before Ryan fired home two penalties to level the tie overall.
Chris Gallagher then received his marching orders before Ryan sealed his treble late on to spark wild celebrations and claim a 4-3 win on aggregate.
They now go into Friday’s draw alongside the likes of Chelsea, Fiorentina and Real Betis.
The Larne boss went into the game with the same starting XI that took to the field in Faro a week earlier, with Mark Randall returning from suspension to take his place on the bench, although the three signings the club made this week were ineligible to take part.
When the game kicked off at a sold-out Inver Park it was a scrappy affair in the opening exchanges before the away side began to settle into their stride and create chances.
The first opportunity came on 18 minutes as last week’s goalscorer Kike Gomez almost repeated the trick when he led a breakaway and tested Rohan Ferguson.
They did open the scoring two minutes later and, from a Larne point of view, it was a painfully simple goal, with the ball recycled from a throw-in for Toni to cross for an unmarked Bernardo Lopes to sidefoot into the net from 10 yards out.
It left Larne with a relative mountain to climb, now 3-1 down on aggregate.
However, they earned a lifeline on 29 minutes when referee Lukas Fahndrich was sent to the VAR screen before awarding Larne a penalty for handball just inside the box.
Ryan stepped up to score the resulting penalty, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way, and earning his first goal in Europe in the process.
The game was then completely turned on its head three minutes before the break as the home side were awarded a second penalty, this time for a foul on Chris Gallagher.
Ryan took responsibility again and scored in the opposite corner this time, slotting into the bottom right.
Lynch was forced into a change at the break as Jordan McEneff came on for skipper Cian Bolger, who was holding his hamstring on the way off at half-time.
Things then took a turn for the worse when Gallagher received his marching orders after picking up a second yellow card, leaving Larne to play the remainder of the tie with 10 men.
This gave the Red Imps the impetus to begin to control proceedings, with Kike Gomez going close from a header with 20 minutes left.
However, it was Larne who would score the next, a superb goal on the break. New signing Benji Magee broke down the right flank and floated a great cross to the back post where Ryan brought the ball down and fired in his hat-trick.
From that point they held on to seal a historic win and book their place in Friday’s draw.
Larne Ferguson, Cosgrove, Want, Bolger (’HT McEneff), Ives, Graham, Gallagher, Thomson, Sloan, Ryan (’90 Devlin), Lusty (’78 Magee)
Subs D Graham, McKendry, O’Neill, Glynn, Randall
Lincoln Red Imps Santana, Ayew (’87 Casciaro), Lopes, Gomez, De Barr, Munoz, Toni (’81 Villacanas), Britto, Nano, Torrilla (’56 Yahaya), Joe
Subs Lopez, Smith, Pozo, Valarino, Martin, Clinton, Bent, Sciortino, Burnet,
Referee Lukas Fahndrich (Switzerland)
