'This is not a pipe dream any more'- Lynch
Larne manager Tiernan Lynch praised his side as "the best group of players" as his team made history by beating Lincoln Red Imps 4-3 on aggregate in the Uefa Conference League play-off to become the first Irish League team to reach the group stage of a major European competition.
Andy Ryan's hat-trick ensured the back-to-back Irish Premiership champions will receive approximately £2.6m in participation money, plus bonuses for a win or a draw, during the lucrative group phase of the competition.
Bernando Lopes gave the Gibraltarian champions the lead in the second leg but Ryan replied with two penalties before the interval and the decisive strike with seven minutes remaining to secure a 3-1 victory on the night.
"Eight years ago, when we walked in here, we always talked about creating dreams and this was probably utopia for us - could we ever lead a Larne team into the group stages of European competition? We have done it tonight," said Lynch.
"I tell them every day, they're sick listening to me, they are the best group of players you'll ever want to work with.
"Everything they do, they never give up - they are never beaten and never out of the fight and I think you saw that tonight. 1-0 down a lot of teams would have crumbled."
"When you watch people like this man beside me [Andy Ryan], they don't have a no. They just keep going, working hard and roll their sleeves up and they do things like they just did."
'This is about showing an NI team can make the group phase'
The Inver Reds' impressive transformation has seen them go from a side struggling at the bottom of the Championship to European history makers in just six years.
“This is not a financial thing, this is about us showing we can get to the group stages of a European competition, that teams from Northern Ireland can get to the group stages of a competition.
"This is not a pipe dream anymore, we have made it a reality and there are probably going to be so many more behind us that continue to do that," added Lynch, who went on to heap further praise on goal hero Ryan.
“Not just as a goal scorer, but as a person," Lynch continued.
"How he raises the level every single day in training, how he demands off people and he runs himself into the ground
"People will talk about his goals, but they’ll not talk about his work rate and what he does off the ball as well as on ball. That old saying of 'big games big names' and he is a big name."
'I would love Chelsea'
The draw, which will take place on Friday in Monaco, will feature the likes of Chelsea and Panathinaikos with Lynch admitting he wants the Blues in the group stages.
"I would love to get Chelsea," said Lynch.
"I think now at this stage, well maybe Kenny [Bruce], but no one else is expecting us to go on and win the Conference League so give us the bigger names and let us go and get as many good nights and generate as much money into the league as we possibly can."
