Penalty joy as Glentoran secure County Antrim Shield for welcome silverware and end to Larne's four-in-a-row run
Declan Devine’s Glentoran ended their five-year trophy drought with a dramatic County Antrim Shield final success over holders Larne at Seaview.
It took a sudden-death 5-4 penalty shoot-out scoreline to split the teams at the end of 90 minutes.
Substitute Charlie Lindsay looked to have won it for Glentoran by hitting a screamer with only 10 minutes remaining.
But Larne, who had won the trophy for the previous four years, came back to level through Andy Ryan, who converted from the spot for 1-1 at the end of normal time.
The penalty shoot-out had the sell-out crowd on the edge of their seats as Jordan Jenkins, Lindsay, Cammy Palmer, Wassim Aouachria and Christie Pattison were all on target for the Glens.
Larne replied through Ryan, Joe Thomson, Chris Gallagher and Tomas Cosgrove - with Levi Ives missing the penultimate spot-kick as his effort was saved by goalkeeper Andrew Mills.
Glentoran certainly posed most of the threat in the opening 45 minutes.
They were presented with an early opening when James Singleton capitalised on a Cian Bolger mistake but he could only shoot horribly wide.
It was hectic stuff, with both teams guilty of giving the ball away cheaply and diving unnecessarily into challenges. Larne’s Gallagher was first into referee Steven Gregg’s notebook following a late tackle on Pattison.
But, seconds later, former Maidstone United winger Pattison cleverly sent Jenkins chasing through the middle but he was well-marshalled by Bolger.
The eager striker still managed to get in a shot that brought a smart save, low to his left, from goalkeeper Rohan Ferguson.
Pattison was growing into the game. He produced a wonderful piece of skill midway through the half, tricking his way past Sean Graham, Gallagher and Bolger before picking out Palmer, whose vicious shot was deflected into the side-netting.
Amazingly, Gary Haveron’s Larne men didn’t have a shot on target until five minutes prior to the break. Glens defender Danny Amos lost possession to Andy Gray and, after teasing his path away from Frankie Hvid, he could only shoot against the body of goalkeeper Mills.
The game boiled over seconds before the interval when Ives lunged into a horrible tackle on Palmer. With the Glentoran fans calling for the referee to produce a red card, the official again settled for yellow.
It was Larne who asked the first question after the restart with Conor McKendry flipping in a great cross from the right that was just inches too high for Mark Randall, who managed to flick wide.
The Glens then had a chance at the other end when David Fisher went down under a challenge from Ryan Nolan. Amos delivered a brilliant free-kick that was met by Kodi Lyons-Foster, whose effort was hoofed off the line by Graham.
Devine’s men almost broke the deadlock on 66 minutes. Amos tried his luck with a rasping 25-yard drive that fizzed inches past, much to Ferguson’s relief.
But Lindsay had the big Glentoran crowd dancing with delight on 80 minutes when he drilled in an unstoppable 30-yard drive that flashed into the bottom corner.
Glentoran could manage to hold their advantage for only five minutes. Palmer brought down Ryan inside the box and Ryan stepped up to roll home the spot-kick, sending Mills the wrong way.
GLENTORAN: Mills, Lyons-Foster, Hvid, Sule, Palmer, Fisher (Aouachria, 78), Amos, Pattison, Singleton (Lindsay, 56), Russell, Jenkins.
Subs (not used): Gyollai, Connolly, Murphy, Douglas, Thorndike.
LARNE: Ferguson, Ives, McKendry (Bayode, 56), Randall (Thomson, 56), Graham, Bolger, Nolan, Cosgrove, Sloan, Gallagher, Ryan.
Subs (not used): Besant, Magee, McEneff, Panayiotou, Wallace.
Referee: Steven Gregg.
In the North West Senior Cup final, Coleraine came out on top over Ballinamallard United by 3-2.
The Bannsiders secured the prize off a Sam McClintock brace and Tiernan Brolly finish.
Ballinamallard found the net off Richard Johnston and Joshua McIlwaine.