Rohan Ferguson was the Larne hero as the shot-stopper saved three penalty-kicks to give the Inver Reds the Charity Shield honours.

After the game finished 0-0 after 90 minutes, the hosts scored three out of their four penalties, whilst Coleraine only managed to score twice as Ferguson guessed right to deny Matthew Shevlin, Ben Doherty and Jay Henderson.

As the rain made untimely appearance at Inver Park, it took until the ninth minute for the first shot in anger as Paul O’Neill’s low shot cannoned off the post, with the linesman’s flag then being raised as Dan Bent looked to lash home the rebound.

Coleraine threatened next on 20 minutes as a neat passage of play just outside the Larne penalty area resulted in Rowan McDonald’s effort flashing wide of the far post.

placeholder image — Dean Jarvis makes a pass during the Charity Shield final at Inver Park

Six minutes later, they would go even closer to breaking the deadlock as a ball forward was dummied into the path of Senan Devine. The Northern Ireland youth international saw his initial shot blocked, with the rebound then being cleared off the line by a well-positioned Aaron Donnelly.

Just before the half hour mark, Devine was involved yet again as he managed to pick up possession at the edge of the box and his sweetly-struck strike was straight down the throat of Ferguson.

Coleraine made a move for Henderson in the summer and he was the next man to have a go at goal as his curling attempt from 20 yards failed to trouble Ferguson.

The ever-reliable Ferguson was almost caught out seconds later as the Larne stopper mis-placed a pass straight to the feet of McDonald but the midfielder’s lob had too much height as the ball sailed harmlessly over.

The visitors, who won the Irish Cup last season, threatened first after the restart as Henderson took a neat touch inside the box with his second forcing a smart stop from Ferguson.

With one eye on next week’s Champions League first qualifying round, Larne decided to empty their bench by the hour mark and they went close to forging ahead when Josh Ukek’s header was cleared off the line by Dean Jarvis, before Mark Randall’s attempt was held by Lewis Webb.

The Larne bench was then incensed moments later as Matty Lusty went to ground following a last-man tackle from Lyndon Kane, with referee Ben McMaster adjudging that the Coleraine skipper had won the ball.

However, Larne were presented with the chance to take the lead from the spot when Ukek was pushed inside the area. Up-stepped Randall from 12 yards but his spot-kick was saved by Webb.

No teams could find the breakthrough before the game would be decided by penalties for the second successive season.

Ultimately, the shoot-out was decided by the heroics of Ferguson in the Larne goal as he saved from Shevlin, Doherty and Henderson as the Inver Reds were perfect from three out of their four spot-kicks.

LARNE: Ferguson, Ridley, Donnelly, McClelland (Cosgrove ‘46 mins), Gallagher (Magee’ 61 mins), O’Neill (Ukek ‘46 mins), Graham (McKendry ‘61 mins), McEneff (Randall ‘61 mins), Sloan (Doherty ‘46 mins), Bent, Gibson (Lusty ‘61 mins).

COLERAINE: Webb, Kane, Jarvis, Boyle, Stewart, McGregor (Devlin ‘61 mins), Shevlin, Henderson, Devine, McDonald (Wylie ‘81 mins), Doherty.

Subs Not Used: Schofield (GK), Lyons-Foster, Watson, McCourt, Campbell.

Referee: Ben McMaster