A goal in each half meant Coleraine would have nothing to show for their efforts against Larne at Inver Park…
The Bannsiders made two changes for the fixture as Jack O’Mahony replaced the injured Lyndon Kane, whilst Conor McKendry returned at the expense of Lee Lynch who was also not available through injury.
A bright start for Coleraine would come at a cost as Matthew Shevlin would have to be withdrawn after just 12 minutes following a robust tackle by Cian Bolger. Less than sixty seconds later, Larne would take the lead as Sean Graham’s cross was headed into the net by an onrushing Joe Thomson.
Remarkably, the Stripes would lose another player to an injury minutes later as Andy Scott suffered a hamstring injury and was replaced by teenager Senan Devine. Despite those setbacks, Coleraine settled but Larne would go close yet again as Thomson picked out Ives inside the box but his low attempt was easily saved.
Coleraine almost levelled through Larne’s own doing on 34 minutes as ‘keeper Rohan Ferguson was caught in possession and the ball landed at the feet of Jamie Glackin. The midfielder would hit a first time effort towards goal that was cleared off the line by Bolger.
A slow start to the second-half would burst into life on 58 minutes with the arrival of Lee Bonis and Andy Ryan off the bench. The duo would combine for the next attempt of the match but Ryan fizzed an effort wide after Bonis’ lay-off.
Minutes later, Graham almost made it a brace of assists as he latched onto Ryan’s clever pass on the left hand side. The ex-Ballymena man sent an inviting cross into the box but Bonis failed to divert his header on target.
Kearney introduced Andy Mitchell and Aaron Jarvis from the bench and the former would go close to equalising as he headed over from Glackin’s inviting cross.
The Stripes had Deane to thank for keeping the score at 1-0 on 81 minutes as Bonis was sent clean through on goal from Ryan’s flick-on. After beating the offside trap in the process, Bonis ran through towards goal but his effort was thwarted by the Coleraine stopper.
However, Tiernan Lynch’s side would bag the three points on 89 minutes as Ives’ corner kick was met by the head of Leroy Millar who expertly guided the ball into the top corner.
A tough evening for Coleraine who will have to assess their squad for injuries ahead of next Saturday’s clash at home to Carrick Rangers.
LARNE: Ferguson, Donnelly (Want ’70 mins), Thomson (Ryan ’58 mins), Randall (Glynn ’83 mins), O’Neill (Bonis ’58 mins), Ives, Bolger, Millar, Cosgrove, Graham, Orozco.
Subs Not Used: Dowling (GK), Farquhar, Lloyd.
COLERAINE: Deane, D. Jarvis, Kelly (Mitchell ’65 mins), McKendry, Shevlin (McDaid ’12 mins), Carson, Farren, Glackin, O’Mahony, Wallace (A. Jarvis ’65 mins), Scott (Devine ’18 mins).
Subs Not Used: Gallagher (GK), McCrudden, Gaston.
Referee: Keith Kennedy