New Larne manager Nathan Rooney fired up by chance to test himself against Irish League's best

​Rooney takes over the reins at the reigning champions from Tiernan Lynch – now at Derry City – after leaving Gibraltarian side Bruno’s Magpies.

The Blackpool native is relishing the opportunity to pit his wits against his counterparts in the Irish League and during his first official press conference on Tuesday, the 35-year-old said he set his sights on managing in Northern Ireland “probably 18 months ago”.

“The standard in this league is higher, the physicality, the demands and the pressures in terms of what's up for grabs because of the following and the fans,” Rooney said.

“But, for me, you look at it and the speed of the game, there's tactically very good managers in the league and I want to go and test myself against that now.

"I'm not one to plan the next step (in terms of his career), obviously it's got to come hand-in-hand where there's interest and you're saying the same things as the club.

"I think I've been patient, there's been a three-year project there (in Gibraltar) and I went in on my own... so it was very important I could come and do the same thing again.

"I don't need to bring a team, I don't need to bring faces with me.

"It's a league I've followed, it's well televised and there's probably 10-12 players I've worked with in the past who've come into this division... and two are in our squad (Mark Randall at Crawley and Cian Bolger at Fleetwood).”

Previous first team coach Gary Haveron has been promoted to assistant manager and will be in charge for Thursday’s Europa Conference League clash against Slovenian side Olimpija Ljubljana, with Rooney moving into the hot seat on Friday to prepare for Sunday’s Irish Premiership showdown against Cliftonville at Inver Park.

“We've set that up in terms of what me and Gary are going to be doing... he's very aware of his role in terms of that,” Rooney said.

“He's got the same energy, the same personality traits so obviously the players are going to get identical movements in terms of conversations and how the training regime looks. A lot of classroom work, a lot of video work, a lot of top-up stuff.

“At the end of the day, when you've got a group that's used to winning and they feel that then if we can get that energy right in the same way, we should roll into games with the same confidence levels.

“Until that period comes where you can really instil and build... we've got a plan in place in terms of what that period looks like as well.”

Rooney said the chance to manage Larne was “an unbelievable accolade for myself” and added “let's see if I can prove everyone right or wrong”.

The Inver Reds are ninth in the league table, 14 points behind leaders Linfield, but with four games in hand.

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