Larne manager Tiernan Lynch set to make good on the promise he made to new Northern Ireland call-up Lee Bonis

​The 23-year-old joined the Inver Reds for a reported Irish League record £100,000 fee from Portadown but has more than repaid that faith by helping to deliver a first Premiership crown in the club’s 134-year history last season.

Bonis scored 15 league goals and has now been rewarded with a spot in Michael O’Neill’s youthful Northern Ireland squad for their EURO 2024 qualifying double-header against Denmark (Friday) and Kazakhstan (June 19).

When sitting down to discuss the move in January 2022, Lynch told the striker that if he ever made it to this point that he wouldn’t be accepting any freebies but paying his own way into the match – and Lynch says it’ll be the ‘proudest money’ he’s ever spent.

"When I first sat with Lee to talk to him about coming to Larne I think he had a little bit of interest from three or four other clubs and one of the things we talked about was him personally,” he said. “Even at that stage when he was at Portadown he was ambitious and wanted to play at the highest level.

"He is very proud to be from Northern Ireland and I made him a promise back then that if we ever got here that I would buy a ticket and pay in to watch him play - now unfortunately I have to do that next week!

“That's the one downside of it that it's costing me money and I can't take any freebies! It'll be the proudest money I've ever spent."

Bonis has undoubtedly benefitted massively from the full-time approach at Larne, improving his game drastically and is now being linked with a number of clubs in England and Scotland.

Derby County, Bolton Wanderers and Portsmouth are just some touted potential destinations and international boss O’Neill has spoken in recent interviews about his desire to see the likes of Bonis make that next step.

While admitting Bonis would be ‘impossible to replace’, there’s no chance Lynch would stand in his way of taking an opportunity – he might even be the one that drops him off at the airport.

"I want him to go,” he added. “I don't want him to go selfishly where Larne are concerned in it but I think we are where we are in Northern Ireland as far as football is concerned.

“A big part of my job in full-time football with Larne is that if I can provide a platform or give these younger kids an opportunity to make them better in the period of time I have them - technically, tactically, physically - and make them better prepared for when they go to England that they can stay and make a real career for themselves.

"We joke with him and I tell him that I would drive him to the airport and I genuinely mean that. Nothing would give me more pleasure.

"He's going to be almost impossible to replace with what he gives you on the field and off it and the culture that goes with it.

"The club will definitely have lived up to their end of the bargain if he gets the opportunity."

Bonis’ inclusion is an undoubted victory for the Irish League and the emergence of further professionalism within it.

Conor McMenamin is also flying the flag and Lynch believes that the more teams that make a full-time move, the better the league and national team will become.

"You look at Kofi (Balmer) last year and Lee this year,” he said. “I'm probably going to be biased and tell you that if a young player has talent and has a chance to get into football in England or Scotland, I think the benefits of having a year or two in full-time football here will pay dividends for them.

"That's not just from a Larne perspective - the quicker we can get more full-time teams, more contact time, fitter, faster and stronger and everything that goes with it, I think it benefits the whole league and benefits Northern Ireland as a national team and association.

"The way I see it - and I keep saying it to the boys we're talking to or trying to sign - see if you come to Larne and get the move, that's fantastic.

"Nothing would make us prouder, but at the same time if you don't get it then it's not the worst place in the world to play your football.

"I think that's probably the big difference now whereas before if our younger players didn't get the chance to go across there was part-time football, they still had to work, juggle the rigours of Irish League and the demands of it but at the same time go out and do a day of work.

"I think now with the way clubs are going there is more professionalism and it isn't the worst thing to be part of Larne, Linfield, Glentoran or any of those full-time clubs."

If Bonis is to move this summer, which looks increasingly likely with this international development, Lynch is confident he has the character to impress across the water.

“He's a reserved kid, is unassuming and doesn't get carried away with himself or anything around him,” he added. "I think that personality and the type of lad he is will definitely stand by him.

"People forget that albeit he's 23, he hasn't a huge amount of experience as far as hundreds and hundreds of games under his belt.

"I think the longer he goes on the better he will become and the higher the environment he gets himself in, the quicker that will happen."