Larne's European dream ended after Europa Conference League defeat to FC Ballkani

Substitute Albion Rrahmani provided two first-half assists for Nazmi Gripshi to deal decisive blows to Larne's hopes of pulling off mission impossible as they looked to overturn a 3-0 first-leg defeat in Pristina last week.

Rrahmani turned from supplier to finisher moments after the second-half restart before Larne were rewarded for an extended period of pressure when Lee Bonis converted from the penalty spot.

It didn’t take Ballkani long to respond with Almir Kryeziu finishing off another flowing attacking move in the 66th minute despite the best attempts of goalkeeper Rohan Ferguson, who got a hand to his powerful shot.

Tiernan Lynch's men were always facing an uphill battle but started brightly with Bonis just failing to latch onto Ali Omar's lofted ball over the top.

Shortly after, 22-year-old Rrahmani - the scorer of Ballkani's opener in the first-leg - was brought on to replace Lindon Emerllahu and wasted no time in making an impact by setting up Gripshi with a pinpoint pass following a flowing move which came against the run of play.

Larne came close to finding an equaliser four minutes later when Joe Thomson's header was saved by a diving Ehea Kolici and striker Andy Ryan was then denied a penalty after contact in the box.

Ballkani were lightning fast on the break and showed their quality once again through the duo of Rrahmani and Gripshi as the former's pass cut through the Larne defence and into the path of his teammate, who kept his composure to land another blow with a cool finish past Ferguson.

Less than 30 seconds into the second-half, Ballkani were 3-0 up through another searing counter-attack with Almir Kryeziu breaking down the left before squaring centrally to Rrahmani.

The reigning Premiership champions didn’t drop their heads and were finding some joy with lofted balls down the flanks – one of which sent Ryan running through with resulting shots from Shea Gordon, Bonis and Thomson blocked before they could trouble Kolici.

Larne did have the ball in the net in the 54th minute when Gordon headed home following good work between Ives and Omar, but it was adjudged offside by the Icelandic linesman.

Gripshi looked like he was about to seal his hat-trick when he rounded Ferguson seconds later, but Larne’s defence recovered in time to push the attacker wide and the goalkeeper made a fine save from the resulting shot.

Larne did make their deserved breakthrough in the 60th minute when Bonis converted from the penalty spot after Armend Thaqi handled Ryan’s flick through and they continued to dominate proceedings with a powerful Ives shot palmed away by Kolici.

Ballkani wouldn’t be tamed for long as Kryeziu found the bottom corner to seal what proved to be routine progression but Lynch’s side certainly produced a much-improved performance in their second showing.

Summer signing Corey Smith showed bright sparks on debut after being introduced as a second-half substitute and Larne’s attention now turns to their Sports Direct Premiership opener against Dungannon Swifts at Inver Park on Monday evening.

LARNE: Ferguson, Omar, Donnelly, Farquhar, Thomson, Bonis (Westendorf, 61), Ives (Glynn, 74), Gordon (Smith, 61), Cosgrove, Sloan (Kearns, 79), Ryan (O'Neill, 74).

SUBS NOT USED: Dowling.

FC BALLKANI: Kolici, Thaqi, Potoku, Emerllahu (Rrahmani, 17), Korenica (Ramadani, 71), Gripshi (Berisha, 71), Zyba (Limaj, 74), Trashi, Kuc, Jashanica, Kryeziu (Halili, 74).

SUBS NOT USED: Hoxha, Ljuljanovic, Dellova, Shala, Kapra, Tusha, Tolaj.