While acknowledging the difficulty of managing domestic duties with their European exploits, Larne boss Tiernan Lynch insists his side have “loved every minute” of playing in the UEFA Conference League as they look to cause an upset against Swiss outfit St Gallen at Windsor Park on Thursday evening.

The Inver Reds are breaking new ground for an Irish League team, becoming the first to qualify for the league phase of a European competition and have been undertaking a unique balancing act in the opening stages of this season.

Lynch’s men, who suffered defeats in their first two Conference League fixtures against Molde and Shamrock Rovers, have already lost more league matches so far this term (three) than in the entirety of last season (two) when they successfully defended their Premiership crown.

Two of those losses to Dungannon Swifts and Portadown came a matter of days after European action, but they got back on track after beating Glentoran 2-0 at The Oval on Saturday.

placeholder image — Larne manager Tiernan Lynch. (Photo by David Maginnis/Pacemaker Press)

While the County Antrim outfit have already played 23 competitive matches across competitions, Lynch has loved their continental experience so far and now wants to take the next step in challenging for points.

"We don't make any excuses - that's something we just don't accept in our changing room,” he said. "We face things head on - when you're not good enough, you're not good enough and when a team is better than you, a team is better than you. You take that on the chin.

"There have been games where we felt we've lost when we should have won and we'd be very open and talk about that also. As an occasion and journey, I think it has been unbelievable and we've loved every minute of it to date.

"The selfishness in us, we'd love to be able to compete and go toe-to-toe with these teams, but we're under no illusions and know where we are and what we have to do.

"We have to keep learning from it and try to take each experience as it comes and see what we can add to our own game and culture."

Another aspect of the challenge is embracing the thrill of European nights – over 3,500 spectators were present for their clash against Molde in Norway while nearly 6,000 attended a ‘North vs South’ showdown with League of Ireland outfit Shamrock Rovers last month – before returning to the grind of domestic action.

"There's no doubt that anybody that says they don't enjoy the razzmatazz and the hype that goes with playing at this level...the big thing is getting used to going from that to (domestic football),” added Lynch. "I was thinking about it last night watching the Liverpool game because there are 60,000 at Anfield no matter what so it doesn't change, but there's a big change for us going from this (Conference League) to domestic football.

"It's a matter of getting our heads around that change. You'd love our domestic game to have that same level of razzmatazz that goes with the European games, but there's no doubt as it goes on that we'll definitely get used to it."