Linfield's Ross Oliver hopes Larne pick up positive UEFA Conference League result against Shamrock Rovers and has say on Premiership title race impact
Linfield assistant manager Ross Oliver hopes Larne can pick up a positive UEFA Conference League result against Shamrock Rovers and feels their participation in the competition could potentially impact this season’s Premiership title race.
The Blues came within seconds of creating Irish League history by becoming the first Irish League side to qualify for the group stages of a European tournament in 2022 when they led RFS going into the dying moments of their tie at Windsor Park before the Latvian outfit equalised and ultimately won a penalty shootout.
Having watched David Healy’s side come so close, Larne have now taken the first step into the Conference League two years later, banking over €3million and setting up huge clashes against the likes of League of Ireland champions Rovers and Belgian top-flight outfit KAA Gent.
The Inver Reds are playing their home matches at Windsor, Linfield’s base, and tonight’s fixture will be followed by next month’s showdown with St Gallen of Switzerland before facing Gent in December.
Tiernan Lynch’s side are in the unique position of trying to balance their European exploits alongside domestic duties and followed up an opening 3-0 defeat to Norwegian outfit Molde by losing against Dungannon Swifts three days later.
The reigning champions have played three Premiership matches fewer than current leaders Linfield, who returned to the summit last weekend, and from past experiences, Oliver believes the balancing act could have a future say on the race for Gibson Cup glory.
After being knocked out by RFS in August 2022, Healy’s men won only three of their next eight matches, ultimately finishing six points behind champions Larne.
"We'll be at the game,” he said. “Even for the likes of myself it will be a learning curve going to watch another Irish League club playing in the group stages and how they handle that.
"I've plenty of interest in it...hopefully they can get a positive result. In terms of the league campaign, I can only go on the experiences we had and we were unfortunate to fall just short of the group stages.
"For anybody to say it mightn't have an impact, it's quite a difficult one because it certainly had an impact on us, probably more so mentally with how we exited the competition. Speaking from my experiences, it possibly could (affect the title race)."