Larne boss Tiernan Lynch labels Charity Shield final defeat as 'a poor day at the office' as he calls for summer football to aid Irish League clubs on the European stage

The Gibson Cup champions rarely looked like scoring throughout the 90 minutes and left empty handed as Jarlath O’Rourke and James Teelan netted after the break to give Crusaders the victory at Inver Park.

An honest Lynch refused to give any excuses for the loss and cited that the club’s standards weren’t met despite the game being seen as a glamour pre-season friendly.

"It was a poor day at the office,” he said after the game.

"A poor performance, probably lacklustre is the word that we're using and it was very un-Larne like, so it's disappointing.

"I can sit here and try and make excuses that it's about getting minutes but that's all I'd be doing is making excuses.

"The bottom line is that it wasn't good enough.

"We've set standards at the club now and today we fell below those.

"I think there was a lack of hunger, desire, fight and drive, and all the things you would have associated with Larne of last season.

"When you don't have those things in the Irish League coming up against teams like Crusaders, that's what happens.

"There's times you lose games but the performance has been good.

"The scoreline wasn't good nor was the performance, so it was a double whammy.

"I'm not going to sit here and try and make excuses or find positives in pre-season friendlies, it wasn't good enough and that's the bottom line."

One positive from the defeat was the performance of midfielder Dylan Sloan who added a direct threat when utilised from the bench.

There was also an update on the future of Lee Bonis amid interest from English and Scottish clubs.

"We always knew Dylan was going to be a good player,” added Lynch.

"He still has a lot to do but I think he'll make good strides this season hopefully.

"There is nothing official regarding Lee.

"We are probably a bit like yourselves and listening to all the rumours and speculation but that's really all it is.

"Lee knows where this is at the minute as there's no official offers or no official approaches.

"Our job and Lee's job is to get on with the business ahead.”

The Inver Reds face HJK Helsinki in the Champions League qualifiers in the next few weeks and Lynch believes his side are already at a ‘disadvantage’ due to their Finnish opponents being mid-season.

With that in mind, the Larne supremo remarked that the Irish League needs to adapt to a summer football schedule to get the best possible results on the European stage.

"I think it's a massive, massive disadvantage for our clubs, especially if you play against Scandinavian teams who are 18 games into their season,” he continued.

"It's difficult enough coming back to play competitive games in Europe, but what makes it more difficult is when they have that advantage of 18 games.

"I'm not going to try and make excuses before a ball is kicked or anything like that.

"It is obviously something I think as a league that needs to be addressed and looked at.

"European football is where the finances are at the moment whether we like it or not.

"It's what can help bring the league forward, raise the coefficient and all that goes with making us a better and full-time league.

"I think we have to give ourselves every chance and in order to do that, we have to give ourselves a level playing field.

"The only way we can do that is getting a summer season.

"HJK look like a team who are 18 games into their season.

"You cast your mind back to this time last year when we played St Joseph's and then you think where we were 12 games into our own league campaign.

"Who knows, but I don't personally think we would have found ourselves in the position that we did."