Larne 1-0 (2-0) Bala Town: Spectacular strike from Hale knocks out Lakesiders
Oswestry, England 08 July 2021. UEFA Europa Conference League First qualifying round match between Bala Town and Larne. Credit: Will Cheshire / Clwb Peldroed.
Bala Town exited the Europa Conference League at the first qualifying round stage after losing 2-0 to Larne on aggregate.
Ronan Hale scored with a spectacular effort inside the last ten minutes to add to David McDaid’s first leg effort as the NIFL Premiership side progressed on their European debut.
The result means that Larne are through to play Aarhus GF of Denmark in the next round while Bala will have to keep their focus on domestic proceedings when the Cymru Premier season begins on August 14 against Penybont.
Bala had the best chance of the opening half when Will Edwards headed over from a corner. The Welsh striker was totally unmarked six yards out and really should have restored parity in the tie.
The home side nearly fluked an opener following their first corner on the half-hour mark. Mark Randall’s delivery was cleared at the front post but only into a crowd of players and the ball deflected back towards goal and flashed just wide.
In the second half, it was a similar story, Larne pressed for the opening goal and looked more like scoring.
Substitutes Conor McKendry and Martin Donnelly looked lively after the hour mark, with Bala Town goalkeeper Alex Ramsay being forced into several saves.
Ramsay first saved from a Conor McKendry strike at the edge of the area, and from the resulting corner, Cian Bolger’s header was cleared off the line.
The Lakesiders keeper then saved from four yards out after Martin Donnelly jinked his way into the penalty area and it looked harder for him to miss but again the Bala keeper stood strong.
After what had been a nervy affair, the deadlock was broken in fine fashion with inspiration from the bench from Tiernan Lynch.
Ronan Hale’s sweet curled effort secured Larne’s progression and the Invermen can say they have never conceded a goal in Europe.
Bala in truth were disappointing over two legs and failed to have a shot on target tonight with Ferguson unchallenged for most of the night.
Larne FC: Rohan Ferguson, Dean Jarvis, Jeff Hughes, Cian Bolger, Kofi Balmer (Albert Watson), Tomas Cosgrove, Fuad Sule, John Herron, Mark Randall (Martin Donnelly), David McDaid (Ronan Hale), Lee Lynch (Conor McKendry)
Goals: Ronan Hale
Yellows: Fuad Sule
Bala Town: Alex Ramsay, Calum Woods (Sean Smith), Johnathan Spittle, Oliver Shannon, Paul Rutherford (Bradley Bauress), Lassana Mendes (Steven Leslie), Anthony Kay, David Edwards, Kieran Smith, Will Evans, Chris Venables.
Yellows: Kieron Smith
Man of the Match: Alex Ramsay
