'Andy does what Andy does' - Larne's Tiernan Lynch keeps it simple in praise of two-goal hero against Loughgall as club run hits 19 games

"Andy does what Andy does” was the verdict from Lynch following a goal in each half at Inver Park on Friday night – the first a delightful left-foot free-kick finish on 20 minutes from outside the area and the second past the hour mark when clinical inside the box.

Loughgall arrived in Larne with the unique status as the sole side to defeat Lynch’s men in league play this campaign thanks to September’s Lakeview Park shock by the newly-promoted Villagers. However, a run in response to that setback has now left Larne 19 games unbeaten across the Sports Direct Premiership and two points clear of Linfield having played a game more before the latter’s Saturday 3PM test at Glenavon.

"He stepped up and struck it very sweetly,” said Lynch on the official Larne website in response to Ryan’s first goal. "The second goal always calms you down a little bit but, at the same time, a 2-0 scoreline can be a dodgy scoreline with one goal puts them back in it.

"It maybe settled us a little bit and took the edge off us and I thought we started to play a little bit more after that...but it certainly wasn't easy.

"We earned that three points.

"One game at a time...I don't get carried away with all that stuff, those 19 games mean nothing unless you win your next one.

"That's the way we have to look at, we try to set ourselves really high standards.

"Up to now we've done okay, there's still a huge amount of football to be played, there's still a huge amount of work to be done.

"But the one thing about this group of players, they don't shy away from the work.

"It wasn't a top performance as far as free-flowing football but you're not always going to get those.

"Tonight was all about Loughgall, tonight was all about trying to get three points, a clean sheet was a bonus for us.

"That's something that we work very hard at as a team...out of possession.

"We feel that it gives us the platform and it certainly did that tonight."

Lynch added: "Loughgall were excellent tonight and played some really good football.

"But we got our goals at good times.

"The longer it went on maybe we got a better foothold in the game but, certainly, it wasn't an easy game.

"It was a miserable old night, it was a quiet night at Inver tonight so we had to dig deep for that and great credit to Loughgall, they haven't made it easy for us this season at all.

"They're a well-organised team, they play some really good football, they're brave.

"But I think the big positives from our end were three points, a clean sheet and we move on.”

Ryan’s double delight grabbed the spotlight under the floodlights but Lynch had special praise for January signing Ro-Shaun Williams as the former Manchester United Academy product adjusts to life in the Irish League within the Larne defence.

The continued recovery from injury by Dylan Sloan also left Lynch with a bonus beyond the three points.

"He's a talented lad (Williams)...his big thing was just getting him fit and as every day goes by and every game goes that's getting better and better regarding his fitness.

"He has fitted into the group seamlessly...a really, really good character, a really good lad, good footballer.

"He's really bought into what we're trying to do.

"Dylan's been excellent, Dylan's worked really, really hard getting himself back in fitness and in contention.

"He's probably just a little bit ring-rusty at the moment...he'll need minutes, he'll need games in his legs and, hopefully, we'll get him back to where he was."