BOTH Paul O’Neill and Kevin O’Hara came off the bench to grab late goals in Larne’s 2-0 win away to Lincoln Red Imps in the first leg of the UEFA Conference League qualifying round tie.
The hosts started brightly, calling Rohan Ferguson into action twice but were reduced to 10 men in the first half when a VAR intervention led to Yussef Flalhi Idrissi receiving a red card for appearing to lash out at Sean Graham.
Larne upped the tempo in the second half with chances arriving for Montel Gibson, Matty Lusty and Kevin O’Hara. The breakthrough arrived on 85 minutes, however.
Conor McKendry cut in on the right flank to sweep a cross to the back post where James Simpson nodded back across goal for Paul O’Neill to slam home a header.
The Invermen would go on to added a second goal three minutes into added time, much to the delight of the travelling fans, when this time Paul O’Neill led the breakaway and slipped in Scotsman O’Hara to make no mistake by slamming it into the right corner.
The decisive second leg takes place at Inver Park next Thursday (27th August) at 8pm. You can purchase your ticket for a huge night of European football HERE.
Lincoln Red Imps: Hankins, Rutjens, Lopes, Mandi (’83 Coulibaly), Mula (’56 Romero), Idrissi, Nano, Joe (’62 Torrilla), Alvarez (’68 Caradozo), Toledano (’68 Gomez), Eersteling
Subs: Santana, Hamm, Joelly, Pinto, Casciaro, Britto
Larne: Ferguson, Ridley, Donnelly, Gallagher (’69 McEneff), Graham (’69 Simpson), Doherty, Cosgrove, Sloan (’76 McKendry), Bent, Lusty (’76 O’Neill), Gibson (’58 O’Hara)
Subs: Carney, Wallace, Randall, Magee, Ukek
Referee: Kristo Tohver (Estonia)
