Chris Gallagher settling quickly into full-time football at Larne after capping off home debut with maiden goal

Gallagher, who made his first outing since moving from Cliftonville earlier this month against Dungannon Swifts at Stangmore Park last weekend, took just 18 minutes to make his mark at Inver Park by firing in a fine half-volley from the edge of the box.

Tomas Cosgrove, fresh off netting the winner in Tuesday’s Co Antrim Shield success over Glentoran, converted from Sean Graham’s corner after the break before Andy Ryan made no mistake from the spot, scoring his 12th league goal of the season after Cosgrove had been brought down by Georgie Poynton.

It means Larne have now extended their unbeaten Premiership run to 18 matches – a 1-0 September defeat to Loughgall remains their sole defeat of the entire campaign – and allowed them to keep pace with leaders Linfield while third-placed Cliftonville also won on Friday night, beating Carrick Rangers thanks to Odhran Casey’s injury-time header.

"I'm absolutely delighted,” Gallagher reflected to the club’s media channel. “The most important thing is three points, but it was great to make my home debut and top it off with a goal as well.

"It has probably helped me settle in and I'm not known for my goals! It's nice to get off the mark. The most important thing is winning, taking it game by game and we've done that again tonight. We'll relax this weekend and get ready for the next game."

With the move to Larne, 24-year-old Gallagher is also transitioning from part-time football into full-time and the ex-Shrewsbury Town midfielder says he has loved the experience so far.

"It's been good from the first day I walked in,” he added. “It helps when you know a lot of the boys already and when you're playing against them week in, week out it makes it easier to settle in.

"It has been great so far. The first couple of sessions I didn't do too much and was settling in going from part-time to full-time. I had my first game last weekend and it was nice to get on the pitch with the lads.

"With a few more games I'll gradually start to get to know players, where I need to be and where others are going to be. They are all top lads in there. Everyone knows what we want to achieve so we're all pushing in the same direction."