The Invermen led the game early on thanks to Paul O’Neill’s penalty, but two goals either side of half-time from Pat Hohan turned the contest on its head before more late drama
Andy Ryan’s 94th minute leveller to make it 2-2 saw Larne rescue a huge point in their top of the table clash with Glentoran at a rain-lashed Inver Park.
The Invermen led the game early on thanks to Paul O’Neill’s penalty, but two goals either side of half-time from Pat Hohan turned the contest on its head as it looked like the visitors were going to eat into the Invermen’s handsome lead at the top.
However, Andy Ryan scored the rebound after his own penalty was saved in stoppage time to keep Declan Devine’s men at arm’s length. Hoban was sent off while the Glens also had Ryan Cooney red carded after the final whistle.
“It was an outstanding performance by us, a horrendous performance from the officials,” fumed Glens boss Declan Devine afterwards. “Andy Mills, it looks a penalty initially but he gets the first touch.
“There is no handball in the second one (goal). And if Pat Hoban’s is a sending off, where a man’s grabbing him and he pushes his hand away, then I don’t know the game any more.
“I’m so angry. The decisions that have went against us tonight were diabolical and I’m not surprised. That’s the bottom line, I’m not surprised.
“When a referee is telling the first team coach at half-time that he knows more about the game than you, then that sort of sets up the arrogance of it all. It’s not acceptable when there’s so much at stake. I have to be careful, because it’s just not acceptable.
“I’m absolutely proud of the players, we took the game to them. The game is defined on fine margins, we defended our box really well. There’s a lot of football to be played, the players have showed they can go toe to toe with everybody.
“Then to send Ryan Cooney off after the game, it just puts the icing on the cake for them. I’m sure they’ll be happy tomorrow. Tonight’s just raw.”
Elsewhere, Coleraine’s late winner against Portadown did see the Bannsiders reduced the lead to six points, although Gary Haveron’s Larne enjoy a game in hand.
The game sparked into life on 17 minutes when a lofted ball from Chris Gallagher inside his own half allowed Paul O’Neill a clear run on goal.
He got to the ball first with Andrew Mills in the Glentoran goal taking out the striker, picking up a knock in the process.
After a two-minute delay for treatment, O’Neill dusted himself down to slot the penalty home down the middle despite Mills getting a hand to it.
A large slice of fortune helped to Glentoran draw level two minutes before the break.
Paul O’Neill’s pass was intercepted and it allowed Glens’ skipper Marcus Kane to drive forward and let fly from 35 yards, with his effort taking a large deflection off Pat Hohan to wrongfoot Rohan Ferguson.
It set up the second half nicely for Glentoran, who were now just potentially a goal away from the result they needed.
As the game swung from one end to the other it was Glentoran who got their noses in front on 49 minutes.
James Singleton had an age to cross from the left flank and he produced a superb ball to the back post for Pat Hoban to cushion a lovely finish into the roof of Ferguson’s goal much to the delight of the Glentoran fans just behind the goal.
Glentoran really had their tails at up at this point and home boss Haveron responded by making four changes in one fell swoop midway through the half.
Within a minute of the changes, however, the Glens had a chance to extend their lead, but James Singleton crashed an effort from a throw-in off the base of Ferguson’s left-hand post.
It was an action-packed final quarter to the game Larne had a Ryan effort cleared off the line with strong appeals for a penalty from the home side.
From the resulting corner, the league’s leading goalscorer Hoban was sent off for an off-the-ball altercation with Andy Ryan.
As the game entered the final 10 minutes, Glentoran sub Jordan Jenkins broke the offside trap, but could only fire straight at Rohan Ferguson with defender Matt Ridley bearing down on him.
The biggest moment of the game came in stoppage time when Ryan was first to react to Mills’ save and there was worse to come for the Glens when Ryan Cooney was sent off after the full-time whistle for something said to referee Shane Andrews.


