Larne F.C.

Larne

Full name	Larne Football Club
Nickname(s)	"The Larne"
Founded	1889
Ground	Inver Park, Larne County Antrim
Chairman	Archie Smith
Manager	David McAlinden
League	NIFL Championship 1
2015–16	4th
Home colours Away colours

Larne F.C. is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club playing in NIFL Championship 1. The club, founded in 1889, hails from Larne and plays its home matches at Inver Park. Club colours are red and white. The current manager is David McAlinden who was appointed to replace Graham McConnell as first team manager in November 2013. From 1972 until 2008, the club enjoyed senior status, but reverted to intermediate status when it failed to gain a place in the new IFA Premiership.

They also support a ladies' team, whose colours are red, white and black. Formed by a small committee of parents and friends of the Larne Colts in November 2004, they made history by being the first ladies' team to play at Windsor Park as part of the half-time entertainment during the Irish Cup final in May 2005. The ladies also have a junior team for ages 8–14. The ladies' team has since pulled away from the men's side of the club.

The club holds the unwanted record of appearing in five finals of the Irish Cup and two finals of the Irish League Cup without ever winning either trophy. They have been runners-up of the Irish Cup on five occasions (1927–28, 1934–35, 1986–87, 1988–89 and 2004–05) and runners-up of the Irish League Cup twice (1991–92 and 2003–04). This makes it a combined seven major domestic cup finals without ever winning either competition - a record in Northern Irish football.^[1][2] The clubs greatest rival is Carrick Rangers,their matches are known as "The East Antrim Derby".

Honours

Senior honours

• Ulster Cup: 2
  • 1951–52, 1987–88

Intermediate honours

• Irish League B Division: 10
  • 1954–55, 1956–57, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72
• Irish Intermediate Cup: 3
  • 1942–43†, 1958–59, 1969–70
• George Wilson Cup: 6
  • 1958–59, 1959–60, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1977–78†, 1978–79†
• Steel & Sons Cup: 11
  • 1909–10, 1941–42†, 1942–43†, 1956–57, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1964–65, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72
• Louis Moore Cup: 2
  • 1956–57 (shared with Banbridge Town), 1958–59

Junior honours

• Irish Junior Cup: 1
  • 1900–01

† Won by Larne Olympic (reserve team)

Players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Billy Brennan 2 DF Kevin Bradley 3 MF Anto McConnell 4 MF Eoin Gillan 5 DF Chris Rodgers 6 DF Stuart McMullan 7 MF Scott Irvine 8 FW Ciaran Murray 9 FW Paul Maguire 10 FW Guillaume Keke 11 FW Thomas Robinson

No. Position Player 12 FW James McCabe 13 DF Jonny McManus 14 DF John Donnelly 15 MF Conall McGrandles 16 DF Adam Calvert 17 FW Darren Stewart 18 MF Ciaran Stitt 19 FW Samuel McIlveen 20 DF Colin Nixon 21 FW Shaun McGoran 22 DF Stuart Scott

Footnotes

^ BBC (4 May 2007). "Larne celebrate league reprieve". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 January 2010.

External links

• Larne FC Website
• Larne Ladies FC Website[dead link]

References

1. "Northern Ireland - List of League Cup Finals". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. rsssf.com. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
2. "Northern Ireland Cup Finals". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. rsssf.com. Retrieved 24 December 2012.