Gary Haveron hails Larne Conference League win as 'incredible' moment for Irish League and pinpoints 'the club you want to emulate'

Tomas Cosgrove’s 74th minute winner, which came just a matter of hours after it was announced the club stalwart had signed a new long-term contract, secured a memorable maiden League Phase win for Haveron’s men at the sixth attempt.

The reigning Premiership champions had already created a piece of Irish League history by becoming the first to reach this stage of a European competition and now have written a new chapter after securing an incredible triumph over the Belgian outfit, who were seeded as the Conference League’s third-best team behind Premier League giants Chelsea and FC Copenhagen.

Larne’s lowest moment of the campaign came with a 4-1 October hammering at the hands of Dublin-based Rovers, but they’ve watched on as Stephen Bradley’s side finished tenth of 36 teams, setting up a play-off against Molde – another familiar foe for Haveron’s side.

Rovers were winless across their first 12 matches in Europe before producing a stunning campaign this term, banking almost €5million in the process – Larne’s healthy sum sits at €3.57million – and they’re undoubtedly the blueprint.

"I think it's incredible for the league,” said Haveron. “We sat here on Wednesday and said it was 14 games before Shamrock Rovers registered a win and we've done it in six.

"They've done extremely well and they are the club you want to emulate and start making dents in Europe and showing that you can compete.

"Maybe bar the Shamrock game we competed really well and the results haven't really reflected that. They weren't coming off the pitch without a win and they were brilliant to a man.

"It was great to see Tomas get on the end of it after just committing to another couple of years at the club."

It was fitting that Cosgrove was the player to score the winner on a famous night considering the 32-year-old was one of Tiernan Lynch’s first key signings at the start of this journey, joining from Cliftonville in 2017 with Larne languishing in the Championship.

"Tomas Cosgrove has been an amazing servant to the Irish League and won almost everything there is to win - I think the Irish Cup is the only thing not on his CV,” added Haveron. “He has a Conference League win now to add to that and he has been a stalwart of the Irish League.

"Since he joined Larne you'd have him in the Team of the Year every year and he's certainly up there most weeks as our most consistent performer.

"His boy was out there as a mascot and I'm delighted for him. His new contract will see him go close to 10 years at the club and he has been an unbelievable ambassador."