Larne’s Bolger reflects on late St Gallen defeat

Larne’s defender, Cian Bolger, stated that his team experienced “mixed emotions” following their 2-1 loss to St Gallen in the Europa Conference League. This defeat marks Larne’s third consecutive loss in the competition, placing them at the bottom of the table. At Windsor Park, Larne initially gained an advantage due to an own goal by Abdoulaye Diaby. However, the Swiss team, St Gallen, equalized before the interval with a goal from their captain, Lukas Gortler. Tiernan Lynch’s squad effectively contained St Gallen and appeared poised to secure their initial point in the tournament until Hugo Vandermersch netted the decisive goal in the 79th minute. Bolger conveyed to BBC Sport NI, “We have mixed emotions. We are proud of our performance but disappointed to concede so late on, but it is a positive and we can build on it.” This particular loss marked Larne’s third consecutive defeat, leaving them at the foot of the Conference League standings. Nevertheless, Captain Bolger expressed satisfaction with his team’s more energetic showing compared to their previous European fixture, which was a 4-1 home defeat to Shamrock Rovers. He further elaborated, “There was a lot made of the Shamrock Rovers game. We came away disappointed, and it was a bad night at the office. We let ourselves down in the game and we wanted a reaction and to put it right and we got that so we’re proud of the performance tonight.” Larne’s schedule includes upcoming away matches in Slovenia against Olimpija Ljubljana and in Belarus against Dinamo Minsk. Their league phase campaign will conclude with a home fixture against Gent. Bolger also conveyed his optimism that the experience gained from their initial three matches will assist them in their pursuit of achieving further milestones and securing their first points in European competition. He further stated, “It’s our first time at this level every day is a learning day, but we want to compete and pick up points along the way. Every game you play in Europe you gain more experience, and you get that belief you belong at that level and tonight we can be positive that we can compete at this level.” “It was just the sucker punch at the end, but we can take something from it going forward.”