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Champions Larne held to draw by Limavady

Larne failed to make significant inroads into the gap between themselves and Irish Premiership leaders Coleraine after being held to a 1-1 draw by Larne at Inver Park.

It's now three home games without a win for the champions who had to come from behind after Ronan Wilson has put the visitors in front.

Defender Aaron Donnelly fired home an equaliser with nine minutes left but Larne couldn't find a winner and now trail Coleraine by 11 points with two less games played.

Newly-promoted Limavady remain in 10th position on goal difference after drawing level on points with Dungannon Swifts.

The first meaningful effort fell to the visitors on 10 minutes as Lewis Tosh exchanged passes with Jamie McGonigle before carrying the ball some distance and firing a 25-yard shot which Larne keeper Rohan Ferguson had to flick over the crossbar.

The visitors threatened again on the counter-attack with Aaron Jarvis' pass sending Alfie Gaston clear in the right-hand channel and his low cross was just too far ahead of the in-rushing Ruairi Boorman.

Larne had plenty of possession in the opening period but were often reduced to long-range strikes or shots which were blocked by the alert visiting defence.

The home side started the second period with purpose and Gallagher had to dive to his right to parry away a fierce Jordan McEneff strike after the ball had fallen into the midfielder's path.

Then Kieran Farren's header dropped to Ronan Doherty but the in-form midfielder's fierce volley from inside the penalty area went over the bar.

Larne thought they had broken the deadlock on 66 minutes when Paul O'Neill bundled the ball home from close range after Gallagher had brilliantly saved substitute Conor McKendry's initial shot but the striker was adjudged to be offside.

Straight away at the other end, Jamie McGonigle outpaced Dan Bent but dragged his left-footed wide of the far post.

But the visitors eventually struck on 71 minutes after Dan Bent lost possession inside his own penalty area and Wilson showed good composure to cut inside and fire a low shot past Ferguson.

The home side levelled on 81 minutes when McKendry made a run towards the bye-line before sending over a lovely cross which was swept home on the half-volley at the back post by Donnelly.

Despite incessant pressure in the closing stages, Larne couldn't find a winner and had penalty appeals waved away when McKendry went down under a challenge from Boorman but referee Mark Dillon waved play on.

What the managers said

"We had three or four massive chances to go ahead and then we make a mistake and get our pockets picked.

"Take nothing away from Limavady, they came here and defended with a lot of heart. We huffed and puffed and asked a lot of questions but they threw their bodies on the line and got a result out of it.

"We'll get back on the training pitch tomorrow morning and start again and try to rectify the last few results down here."

"I thought we were excellent throughout. We had to suffer a wee bit late in the game but to get to the 80 minute mark ahead we deserved that lead.

"I was disappointed with the manner of the goal but overall if you had offered me a point coming here this morning I would have taken it.

"We always try to get on the front foot and get as high up the pitch as we can and some of the football we played in the first half was tremendous."

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