Larne have received a significant added incentive for European progress with Monday’s UEFA Europa League play-off round draw setting up a potential clash against Rangers.

Larne tonight host FC Iberia 1999 at Inver Park in the Europa League third qualifying round first leg before next Tuesday’s trip to Georgia.

The Glasgow giants face Jagiellonia Bialystok of Poland on Thursday in an away first leg, with the return test at Ibrox on August 13 in the Europa League third qualifying round.

The winners of the two ties would then face off in the Europa League play-off round across August 20 and 27 in pursuit of the lucrative League Phase section.

placeholder image — Larne defender Aaron Donnelly. (Photo by Andrew McCarroll/Pacemaker Press)

Larne defender Aaron Donnelly insists full focus is on “trying to keep it tight at home” as the Inver Reds prepare for Tuesday’s visit of FC Iberia 1999 – the latest step in their quest to seal League Phase football.

The reigning Premiership champions created Irish League history by qualifying for the Conference League in 2024 and took it one step further by beating Belgian outfit Gent at Windsor Park.

Larne are the sole Northern Irish side remaining in European competition and are already guaranteed at least a Conference League play-off after winning their first Champions League tie against Tre Fiori of San Marino last month.

If Haveron’s men can navigate their way past Iberia 1999 over two legs, they’d seal a spot in Europe’s third tier competition and the prospect of Rangers.

Larne’s European tie has already taken on extra significance for the Irish League as a whole after Northern Ireland fell to 51st of 55 nations in UEFA’s co-efficient rankings table.

If Northern Ireland were to remain in that position after Larne’s exit, the Premiership would lose one of its four European positions for next season – a development which would come as a major blow.

Georgia are one of four nations ranked below Northern Ireland with their Erovnuli Liga champions Iberia 1999 currently sitting top of the pile once again this term – they’re one of many European leagues who play a summer schedule.

Larne have held their own at home in recent years, keeping a clean sheet in three of the last six European matches held in Northern Ireland, and Donnelly wants to play his part in another solid showing.

"That’s the focus for us (Iberia match),” Donnelly told the club’s media channel. “We’re looking forward to it.

"The games are coming thick and fast and we’ll be focusing on it. It’s something we need to take away from (Red Star), trying to keep it tight at home and see what we can do away from home.

Larne are coming off a 9-0 Champions League second qualifying round aggregate defeat to former European Cup winners Red Star Belgrade.

Donnelly and his team-mates came up against the likes of ex-Inter Milan striker Marko Arnautovic, who represented Austria at the World Cup, and the centre-back will be taking lessons learned into the new Premiership campaign.

"There’s loads of positives we can take from it,” he added. “There’s stuff in the game we can take looking forward to the season, playing against a top opponent like that.

"We’ll also learn from it so it was a great experience for us.

"Every mistake you make you’re getting punished for it at this level, the quality of their runs is something we don’t usually see week in, week out in the Irish League. We can learn from it as defenders.

"I don’t think anyone is going to face a better team than Red Star in our league any time soon so getting an experience like that is unbelievable.

"It’s something that will be good for us going into the league.”

Defeat would put Larne up against the loser of Lincoln Red Imps and Omonia in the UEFA Conference League play-off round.