Larne FC, who were in the second tier of Northern Irish football less than six years ago, are flying the flag in the country’s historic first ever European campaign in UEFA’s new tournament the Conference League.
Following dismal showings from league rivals in past years, it’s the turn of the Inver Reds to try and pull the North out of the basement of European football.
The north Antrim outfit struggled on matchday one but didn’t disgrace themselves in Norway against Molde, holding out till 55 minutes before the floodgates opened for a comfortable 3-0 win for the home side. With Molde being a pot two team, it was one of the hardest fixtures the debutants will face over the next three months.
UEFA’s coefficient system ranks countries based on their teams’ performance in Europe over a five year period, granting points for all results as well as progression to the later rounds.
Double points are on offer in the all new league phase, which gives teams six unique opponents instead of the traditional home and away format. With the opportunity of double points, a couple of good results could be paramount to Northern Ireland scaling the coefficient table this season.
The coefficient is calculated by dividing the number of points a country earns by the amount of teams they have competing. Criticism has come in for this format from smaller nations as it makes it difficult to leapfrog those in front of them unless everyone performs well, like when Rangers got to the Europa League final before narrowly losing to Frankfurt in 2022.
Northern Ireland sit 46th out of 55 nations after poor performances from their clubs in the qualifying rounds in recent years. Having slid from 42nd last season, it is imperative for NI to get back there as they are in danger of losing the league’s fourth European spot. Next season will see the points gained from Linfield’s playoff defeat to Qarabag in 2019 wiped, so a positive performance from Larne is massive for the league’s future in continental competition.
Larne dispatched part timers Lincoln Red Imps comfortably in the playoff, making history as Andy Ryan scored a hat trick to make the Inver Reds became the first ever Northern Irish team to qualify for a UEFA competition.
With Linfield, Cliftonville and Crusaders all performing poorly in the qualifiers, the weight is on Larne to pick up the points NI so desperately need to stay in the top 42. Ties against Molde and Gent are the pick of the bunch, along with a hate fuelled clash with Rep of Ireland’s Shamrock Rovers.
Manager Tiernan Lynch, who was been with the club since 2018 has already made it clear that this campaign is “no European holiday” for Larne and they aren’t there to just make up the numbers.
A win or two draws are required to keep Northern Ireland in the money spots and lift them back to 42nd. A third positive result would see NI rise to 41st, which would be the highest position for them since the turn of the century.
Featured Image credit: Albert Bridge
Coefficient table credit: Wikipedia
