Tiernan Lynch focusing on result over performance as Larne extend unbeaten Premiership run to 17 matches with victory over Dungannon Swifts

​The reigning champions departed County Tyrone with three points thanks to a four-minute blitz just before half-time as Leroy Millar tapped home his third goal in four matches after Declan Dunne had palmed away Joe Thomson’s strike.

Rodney McAree’s side were unfortunate to fall two behind moments later with Millar’s shot blocked but ultimately deflecting in off Swifts defender Steven Scott.

That helped extend Larne’s unbeaten league to 17 games – they’ve still only lost once all season – and having drawn their two previous meetings with Dungannon, Saturday’s triumph means they’ve now beaten every top-flight team at least once in this campaign.

"It's three points and a clean sheet,” said Lynch. “I've seen better performances but we got the job done.

"It wasn't really about performance or how well we played today, but we just came to get three points and thankfully that's what we got.

"I would have liked to have seen us have a bit more of the ball in the second-half.

"In the last 20 minutes or so we should have got on it and been braver and weren't.

"We maybe let Dungannon, although they didn't overly hurt us, have too much of the ball which was frustrating.

"There were more positives than negatives."

Chris Gallagher made his Larne debut following a headline switch from Cliftonville on Monday, playing 90 minutes in the victory.

"I thought he did well,” added Lynch. “Any player coming into a team and trying to build relationships, an understanding of players around you and we have a game plan that we work to and Cliftonville's is probably very different to ours.

"All in all for his first game I thought he did really well."

Larne also signed 17-year-old midfielder Oisin Devlin from Institute this week before sending him back on loan to the Championship title contenders.

"Young Oisin has bags of talent and ability,” said Lynch. “He's definitely one for the future.

"We loaned him back out to Institute because we want him to get more senior games under his belt and we think he has a bright future."

Lynch admits Larne are still very much active in the January transfer window as they look to bolster their squad ahead of a busy few months with retaining the Gibson Cup top of their priority list.

"I hope so (there are more arrivals),” he added. “Who they are or how many I can't give you the answer at this stage.

"There are plenty of chats going on, but as we say every transfer window, it's not about bringing players in but quality that will make us better and strengthen what we're doing.

"Once you get into January people aren't necessarily out of contract so you're either having to buy them if you really need them and have the budget to do it or doing deals with clubs.

"It's a difficult one."