Larne 1-0 Gent: Winner against Gent a childhood dream for Tomas Cosgrove
By reaching this stage in Europe’s major competitions, Larne has broken new ground for League of Ireland clubs. Never before has a Northern Ireland club reached the group or league stages of a UEFA club competition.
League of Ireland side Shamrock Rovers defeated October Larne 4-1this stage is relatively familiar.
They finished tenth in the league stage, earning them a place in the newly introduced play-offs in January, a wish of Cosgrove and Larne.
“You’ve seen what Shamrock Rovers are capable of and we’re not a million miles away from them,” Cosgrove said.
“Look what they’ve done – they’ve advanced and we’re so disappointed because they hit us hard (when we played each other). So we’re like, we can have faith, we can do this”.
On the domestic stage, Larne are currently ninth in the table, 22 points behind league leaders Linfield, but with six games remaining after this season’s European results.
With games looming for Gary Hafron’s side, Cosgrove believes this European win will see them begin their pursuit of a third successive league title.
“Hopefully we can work together and catch up on the games we have at hand,” Cosgrove said.
“Unless it’s mathematically impossible, we’ll try (to win the league). We’ve got to play Linfield twice more and we’ve got to be in the top six – if we win all our games we’re only a few points behind with games in hand, so This is certainly possible.
“Hopefully this will be the catalyst to push us forward and we’ll be off again on Monday (against Dungannon Swifts).”
