Larne battles being treated as a Cup Final by our rivals, says boss Tiernan Lynch

January’s winning run earned Larne boss Tiernan Lynch the Manager of the Month award from the NI Football Writers’ Association

Larne boss Tiernan Lynch believes his team now have a massive target on their back — the legacy of being Champions.

The club have come a long way since the takeover by Purplebricks co-founder Kenny Bruce — a native of the harbour town and lifelong fan — in September 2017.

It has been one of the biggest game-changers in the history of Irish League football. Before Bruce’s cash injection, little, unfashionable Larne performed in front of a handful of fans in the second tier of Irish League football. No money, no prospects, no hope.

How things have changed. The stands now echo to the cheering of supporters at Inver Park on match days as Lynch, his backroom staff and his players bask in the glory of winning the Sports Direct Premiership title for the first time in the club’s history.

They are in the process of writing another glorious chapter as they strive to retain the Gibson Cup. However, this time, they have Linfield and Cliftonville to contend with in a title race that promises to go to the wire.

Lynch admits his boys are still coming to terms with the pressure that comes with being Champions but acknowledges they have become public enemy No.1.

“What I’ve noticed is how teams raise their game against Larne, every game is a Cup Final,” says Lynch. “Linfield had that for years and I think that’s something we have struggled to deal with, hence probably why we’ve dropped points against bottom-six teams, because we wrongly underestimated those teams and were punished.

“We didn’t set up differently, we didn’t prepare differently, didn’t go into the games differently and didn’t have different game