Tuesday 25th May 2021, Kick Off 7.45pm
Tomorrow evening we visit Inver Park for our penultimate league game in what is a virtual cup final for both sides with European qualification guaranteed by a Glentoran victory.
So far, we have played Larne four times this season with one Glens win and three draws in normal time (Larne winning a shootout after a goalless draw in the County Antrim Shield Final at Seaview in December). Our last visit to Inver was in January when Robbie McDaid equalised a Jeff Hughes opener as the game ended 1-1.
Last month the Glens won 3-2 at the Oval in what was our most recent league win and Larne’s most recent defeat. That day Rhys Marshall gave the Glens an early lead, but the away side went into the break 2-1 up after strikes from Randall and Cosgrove. A late Faud Sule own goal gave the Glens all three points after Jay Donnelly had equalised early in the second half.
Larne's 2-1 win against us at Inver Park. in January 2020, thanks to Johnny McMurray's late strike, was their first over Glentoran since 1987. Indeed the 1986/87 Season is the last time Larne finished above the Glens in the Irish League and they will be aiming to take 3 points tonight and overtake us into 3rd place to try and bring an end to that unwanted record and secure an automatic place in Europe.
While the Glentoran players have been able to enjoy a welcome ten days of much needed rest from competitive action, Larne have played twice in that period; coming through the controversial Sadler’s Peaky Blinders Irish Cup Semi Final against Crusaders on penalties before going on to lose last Friday's Final 2-1 to Linfield at Mourneview Park. Despite this setback, Lynch's side have won their last 3 league games since losing at the Oval to put themselves in a position to challenge for the final automatic European place via their final league position.
Our last Inver win came in October of last season, when Paddy McClean's superlative overhead kick, after substitute Cameron Stewart had knocked down a Hrvoje Plum free kick, secured a late 3-2 victory. Former striker Paul O'Neill also had a productive night in front of goal, twice converting in the first half after Mark Randall's early free kick had given Larne a 4th minute lead.
Connor Mitchell is likely to continue in goal for Larne, with regular number 1 Conor Devlin absent from the squad in recent weeks as he continues to recover from injury. Strikers David McDaid and Johnny McMurray, along with midfielder Martin Randall, will be hoping for recalls to the side after coming on as subs in the Cup Final.
Mick McDermott: “This is yet another very important game. It seems like every match this past two months have been like cup finals, all with massive points to play for. European football has always been a target for us, and we go into this game with that firmly in our thinking. We all enjoyed and benefitted from the European experience at the start of this season, and we know how important it is to achieve that on a regular basis,
Larne at Inver Park are always a difficult proposition and all our matches there have been close and hard fought since Larne were promoted – one close win each and a draw. We know we will need to put in a top performance to leave with three points, but that’s the objective and it’s what we’ve been planning for and working towards.”
Tomorrow night’s match will be streamed live by Larne FC through 247.tv. A link to the match can be found HERE.
