Tiernan Lynch takes over at Derry City as Larne announce interim boss

Tiernan Lynch will lead Larne for one final time on Tuesday night before leaving the club to take over at Derry City.

A deal was struck between the two sides on Monday evening with Lynch being joined at the Brandywell by brother Seamus as they take over from Ruaidhri Higgins. Ironically their final game in charge will be at Derry's home as the Invermen take on Institute in the BetMcLean Cup.

Lynch has been in charge at Inver Park since 2017 leading the club out of the Championship before going on to win back-to-back Irish Premiership titles. He helped create history in the summer as Larne qualified for the group stages of the UEFA Conference League.

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In September Lynch rejected the chance to take over at Scottish Premiership outfit St Johnstone but he is now on his way out of the east Antrim club this time. In an interview with the Derry Journal earlier on Monday Lynch said the Candystripes have the potential to become the 'biggest club in the island of Ireland'.

"At this stage I've nothing to tell anybody," said Lynch. "(Derry City) has the potential to be the biggest club in the island of Ireland," he added. "So I think any manager who has ambition, if they told you that wasn't something of interest they'd be telling you lies."

Larne FC majority shareholder Kenny Bruce paid a heartfelt thanks to the pair saying: “We are extremely thankful for all that Tiernan and Seamus have achieved in their seven and a half years at the club Their names will go down in the record books of not only Larne Football Club, but Irish League football as a whole, for all that they have done.

“They have both worked tirelessly for the club and that hard work has borne much fruit and achieved some incredible feats. They have played a major part in building the club from the first team right through to the Academy. Both of them have also created a hugely important culture, which has been the foundation of all we’ve been able to do.”

On confirming the arrival of their new management team Derry City’s CEO Sean Barrett said: “We met with Tiernan at the weekend and we were impressed by his vision and energy to take Derry City Football Club forward.

“He has overseen a massive development programme at Larne over the past few seasons and we are delighted that he was very keen to come to the Brandywell. There is a lot of work to do over the coming weeks in preparation for next season and we are very much looking forward to starting work with Tiernan later this week.”

Meanwhile at Inver Park first team coach Gary Haveron, supported by the club’s technical director Andy Mitchell and remainder of football staff, will take interim charge of the first team squad from Wednesday as the club begins the search for a new boss.

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