Tiernan Lynch targets Larne destination as they reach brink of another league title

Tiernan Lynch said Larne were determined to make sure their title success wasn't a "one-off" as they all but secured back-to-back Irish Premiership titles following their draw with Linfield last night.

Andy Ryan's first half penalty cancelled out Leroy Millar's own goal to keep their three-point lead intact going into the final game. With an added 17-goal advantage over the Blues the Gibson Cup will be heading back to Inver Park for Saturday's party with Lynch determined to keep his side at the top table.

"This is where we want to be," he told BBC Sport. "We wanted to make sure it wasn't a one off. We want to stay here, and it won't be easy but this is where we want to be.

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"They are a phenomenal group of boys and they work really hard Monday-Friday. A big thing for us this year was our bounce back ability. We probably lacked that in the past where we took longer to get over things or felt sorry for ourselves. You saw a real hunger in their eyes.

"We lost to Cliftonville in the Irish Cup semi-final and then on the Tuesday night (again against Cliftonville) I thought we were magnificent. That's great credit to this team and everyone involved with the club.

"We started a bit rocky in the season. We knew there was going to be a target on our back and we knew that Larne would be the scalp. It took us a little bit of time to get going, but when we did I thought we were magnificent."

It was a hard-fought point in the end at Windsor Park with Larne having to dig in right to the end to see it home and leave them on the brink of another title.

"I'm delighted," said Lynch. We probably saved our worst for last, that was a long 96 minutes. We just never got going.

"I don't know whether it was nerves, I can't put my finger on it, but it doesn't matter at this stage. Thankfully we get to bring it home again and I couldn't be more proud of them."

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