Cosgrove urges Larne 'to grab their opportunity'

Larne captain Tomas Cosgrove has urged his team to "go out and grab the opportunity" afforded to them in the second leg of their Uefa Conference League play-off against Lincoln Red Imps at Inver Park on Thursday.

The Irish Premiership champions hold a 2-0 lead from last week's first leg in Gibraltar thanks to goals from Paul O'Neill and Kevin O'Hara.

Both players came off the bench to score late on after the hosts had Yussef Flalhi Idrissi sent-off.

Larne are aiming to qualify for the league stage of the competition for the second time in three years.

"I've said to the boys to go out and grab the opportunity with both hands. You don't know when they're going to come along again, they are few and far between," Cosgrove told BBC Sport NI's Thomas Kane.

"It's absolutely massive for the town, for everyone involved with Larne Football Club.

"We need to go out and put on a show and get the crowd behind us from the get-go and make this an intimidating place to come to."

While the Invermen will go into the second leg as firm favourites to advance, Cosgrove says they will be taking nothing for granted, especially in light of Celtic's Champions League capitulation against Austrian side LASK on Tuesday night.

Martin O'Neill's side led 3-0 after the first leg and took a one-goal lead in the return, before losing 5-4 on aggregate after extra time.

"No-one here is listening to the outside noise. We know what we have to do and our co-efficient points for the rest of the league are on the line too," explained the Larne skipper.

"The first goal is going to be massive, the momentum swinger.

"You saw with the Celtic match when they got the first goal, they were cruising, then they make a mistake and they're on the back foot. I think we have enough know-how to get through it."

Cosgrove believes the club's previous experiences of European football will be beneficial to their attempts to progress to the next stage and that Irish League clubs in general should have a positive approach to competing on the continental stage.

Larne defeated Lincoln Red Imps to qualifying for the league phase in 2024.

"I think the whole mindset of the Irish League has to change sometimes, we need to have more confidence in ourselves that we can go out and compete with these teams. We're just as good.

"I think that's the major issue. With full-time training and full-time teams coming into the league, that's only improving."

The former Cliftonville player adds that clubs have to adapt their style when playing in European competition.

"You need to know when to make your tackles, when to step out of your shape, how you tackle.

"You get away with more in the Irish League, boys just want to roll about the floor in Europe. It's just something you have to get used to.

"You know you'll have experiences where you have 10 minutes of pain and you have to go through that pain if you want to come out the other side.

"We have the experience, the know how among back-line know about when to kill the game and when to push on."

On their previous foray into the league stage of the competition, Larne had to wait until their final game to clinch a win and their first points, Cosgrove scoring the only goal as they defeated Belgian side Gent 1-0 at Windsor Park in December 2024, after suffering five losses.

Cosgrove added that he was unsure whether he would have a further opportunity to secure a place in the league stage of a European competition but was ready "to go out and give it everything".

"I didn't think personally I'd be back here in this position, though I thought an Irish League club would be, so hopefully we can do it again.

"We have the experience of those away trips and what is expected of you.

"I think we were a bit shell-shocked in those games [in the league stage] and a wee bit like rabbits in headlights at times so it would be something we could look back on and hopefully rectify this time round."