David Sneyd

THE LAZY STORY of Larne’s success in the Irish League over the last seven years is easily told.

Wealthy businessman takes over dying club.

Wealthy businessman invests upwards of £5 million.

Wealthy businessman buys success.

Lucky manager benefits from all that wealthy businessman has to offer.

If only it was that straightforward.

That is not the reason why Derry City prised Tiernan Lynch from Larne to make him their new manager this week.

The Belfast native didn’t just break Linfield’s stranglehold on the Irish League, he did so by taking Larne from the bottom of the Championship to the top of the Premiership and turning the club into a dynamic full-time operation.

They lost the first 15 games of his reign in 2017 with a weekly budged of £300 but perseverance and a little bit of pragmatism paid off.

Players who played for Lynch will tell you of the unrelenting work ethic and clarity of thought on the training pitch, something that was instilled in him when he left Ireland for America as a teenager to take a soccer scholarship at Long Island University.

For the last seven years at Larne there has been a level of detail and preparation that didn’t allow for excuses because of the quality of work as a coach on the training pitch.

Add in a personality that brings the willing together and leaves the sceptical in the cold, and you have the kind of blend that can deliver success.

In tandem with his older brother Seamus, who has always been by his side as assistant and will be again at Derry, the duo shared a vision with businessman Kenny Bruce. The brothers then drove the standards around the football club to realise the ambition.

The multi-millionaire co-founder of online estate agency Purplebricks backed them to deliver. Their intensity on the training pitch – train as you play or don’t play at all – is matched by their willingness for players to then enjoy the fruits of success and hard work.

“They were like father figures,” Dubliner Fuad Sule, who spent five seasons at Larne and won the league in 2022/23, said. “You knew exactly where you stood with them, they would have arguments and rows but it always to get what was best for the team. They demanded a lot and wouldn’t lie to you, but then when the time was right away from football they could let their hair down too and show the other side.”

New Derry City boss Tiernan Lynch. Jonathan Porter / INPHO Jonathan Porter / INPHO / INPHO

Larne always had two days off after a match with a straight four-day lead in to games, and as well as the week-to-week preparation for games they would also have six-week blocks of specific tactical work with the carrot of four days off at the end of it.

“We never looked back at any moment of a season and thought we didn’t do enough in terms of fitness work or preparation, they never cut corners,” midfielder Lee Lynch, who left in 2022 after three seasons, said.

“They were always working to improve the team and make the club better, over time they made it a place where players wanted to be because it was an environment where you would improve and also have demands to be successful.”

At Derry, where the pockets of owner Philip O’Doherty will be even deeper than Bruce’s, that track record of helping to mould an entire club rather than just a first team will be crucial.

Those who played against Lynch’s teams speak of a manager who was pragmatic enough to tweak aspects of his style to turn Larne from easy on the eye and dominant in possession – but who you could always nick a 1-0 win against – to a more powerful, robust, and cleverer squad capable of winning back-to-back league titles. The preference is for a 3-5-2 formation with the shape of the midfield alternating depending on opposition.

This year Larne also became the first Northern Irish club side to reach the group stages of European competition.

Their presence in the UEFA Conference League was made all the more interesting to those in the League of Ireland as they were paired with Shamrock Rovers in the new league phase format.

Stephen Bradley’s Hoops looked a class above Lynch’s men with a 4-1 win at Windsor Park last month. He reckoned his players gave their opponents too much respect but there was also a feeling from onlookers who know both leagues that it was a misjudgement to try and go toe to toe with Rovers.

That is why there is a sense this move to the League of Ireland will also require someone on the coaching staff with experience of the division to help navigate what will be a challenging first season.

Despite that defeat to Rovers, there is little wonder why Lynch was on Derry’s radar to replace Ruaidhrí Higgins once he opted to walk away last week. The 44-year-old will be unveiled by the Candystripes tomorrow and there will be plenty for him to contend with straight away.

The nature of their collapse in the Premier Division and FAI Cup final defeat, as well as Higgins’ departure, has led to a state of flux at the Ryan McBride Brandywell.

Experienced personnel like Patrick and Shane McEleney have departed while promising forward Colm Whelan has joined Bohemians.

The futures of goalkeeper Brian Maher, and midfielders Will Patching and Adam O’Reilly are also uncertain with rivals already a step ahead in their own recruitment.

There will be no European football either but that won’t lessen the expectation.

Lynch, and his brother, are primed for their latest challenge.