Another huge moment but it’s just one more step on Larne’s incredible journey

It has been a meteoric rise for the Inver Park club since lifelong fan Kenny Bruce invested in the club four years ago.

His dream was to hear the Champions League anthem blasting over the PA system at the ground.

On Thursday night it was the Europa Conference League music playing out as the vociferous home support cheered on their heroes to an astonishing win over the Danish Superliga side.

And it was fitting that David McDaid, who has been there for the incredible journey over the last four years, followed up his vital goal against Bala Town in the last round with another crucial early strike against Aarhus.

It set the tone for another memorable night, but boss Tiernan Lynch was adamant afterwards that this isn’t the end of their aspirations.

“Davy was one of the first players to come in the door and when you saw the state of our ground and everything back then and you tried to sell him the dream of European football, he didn’t laugh to our faces, but I’m sure he laughed inside,” said Lynch.

“Tonight was what this was all about.

“But we don’t want to be finished here.

“There might be some teams who would be happy with what we’ve got, but not us.

“If we start getting to that stage then there’s no point continuing this.

“We came into this game not sure what we were going to be coming up against.

“We watched them play Brondby, we’d heard the reports, we knew their budget and the type of signings they have made.

“But we’re coming out of the game a bit disappointed...firstly that we conceded a late goal and secondly that we didn’t win by more.

“The players deserve unbelievable credit for that.

“We got the early goal and the longer the game went on I thought we were absolutely outstanding.

“We looked like the team with the £4.5million budget, not them!

“I couldn’t be more proud of the performance they put in tonight.

“If truth be told no-one gave us a chance going into this game probably apart from us.

“The ultimate goal tonight was to make sure the tie wasn’t over.

“We wanted to make sure we were going there with a real fighting chance.

“We all know there’s been European games in the past where teams have won at home but end up getting drilled four or five in the away leg.

“We know it’s going to be a different game out there, but I think we’ll be a different animal also.

“I’d love to say we are delighted with the result but there is a slight disappointment.

“There shouldn’t be because of how well we played.

“This is obviously our first time in Europe so every time we play it’s a learning curve, and as long as we learn from some of the little things that went wrong towards the end it will stand us in good stead.

“Our plan is to hopefully continue to play European football, we want to get stronger and stronger.”