The secret ingredient that helped Larne's penalty hero Chris Gallagher put Inver Reds on cusp of Irish League history
As the seconds ticked away at Inver Park towards the dreaded penalty shootout, Chris Gallagher’s intention was always to put himself forward with Larne chasing European history, and powered by pickle juice after 120 ferocious minutes, the ex-Cliftonville ace duly slotted his spot-kick home to set up a UEFA Conference League play-off against Lincoln Red Imps.
Gallagher, who joined the Inver Reds in January, produced a masterful midfield display alongside Dylan Sloan and Joe Thomson in Larne’s third qualifying round second-leg clash against Kosovan outfit FC Ballkani, which went all the way to penalties after the scores were tied at 1-1 on aggregate.
With this only Larne’s fourth competitive match of the season, you can forgive Tiernan Lynch’s side for feeling the physical impact of an intense battle that had so much on the line – not only taking one step closer to becoming the first Premiership club to reach the group stages of European football, but the potential multi-million pound windfall that comes with it.
Gallagher covered every blade of Inver Park’s artificial grass on Thursday evening and was suffering from cramp at the end of extra-time, but that’s where Michael O’Boyle, Larne’s Head of Medical Services, came in to play a pivotal role.
It was that bottle of pickle juice that ultimately helped Gallagher step up to the mark after Thomson, Mark Randall and Andy Ryan had scored from the spot – and goalkeeper Rohan Ferguson had saved two.
"I usually am confident but with about five or 10 minutes to go when I was thinking it could go to penalties, I was a bit sceptical because I was cramping everywhere,” he reflected. “Mick had some pickle juice, I got it into me and I felt grand.
"I will always put myself forward because I'm confident I can put it away and fortunately I was the one that scored the winner, but huge credit to Ro who made great saves which put me in that position.
"Pressure is for tyres...this was just another game of football, albeit a big one. It's a kick of a ball and whatever happens will happen."
Lynch’s men will now travel to Portugal next Thursday for their play-off first-leg against Gibraltar’s Red Imps, who lifted the league title last season before losing in the Champions League second qualifying round to Qarabag and suffered Europa League defeat against Dinamo Minsk.
Gallagher has already collected his maiden Irish League crown after joining the County Antrim outfit and admits occasions like these are why he decided to make the switch to full-time football once again.
"You want to be involved in these occasions and there's not much bigger than qualifying for European group stages,” he added. “It's one we will be well prepared for.
"I'm over the moon and proud of every one of the lads...we left it all out there and that's what we had to do to win the game. As a footballer you want to play in these games and tonight was one of those and now we have another one to look forward to next week."