Larne captain Tomas Cosgrove praises special Champions League performance from teenage midfielder

The 19-year-old Northern Ireland youth international has impressed throughout pre-season and was rewarded by manager Tiernan Lynch with a start in Finland.

Sloan, who spent the second-half of last season on loan at Newry City, more than repaid that faith with an assured display in what was his – and Larne’s – Champions League debut and was named their Man of the Match.

It could be a sign of things to come in what is set to be a breakout season for the talented youngster who came through the youth ranks at Inver Park.

"Football is confidence so when the boys get on the ball and things start working for you, we start catching them and pressing high,” Cosgrove told the club’s media channel. “Special shoutout to Dylan - I thought he was brilliant.

"For a 19-year-old to make his debut was unbelievable. I could tell he had nerves before the game but he didn't show it and he did his game plan down to perfection."

Larne will be hoping to overturn a 1-0 deficit against the Finnish champions with only an early Bojan Radulovic penalty separating the two teams going into the second-leg at Solitude on Wednesday.

HJK have also since parted company with manager Toni Koskela and Lynch believes if his side can replicate their second-half performance in Helsinki then anything could be possible.

"We got dealt a blow after three minutes with defensively something we wouldn't normally do because defensively we've been superb,” he said. “I think we probably lacked a little bit of belief for 45 minutes and I think second-half we started showing we're capable of playing at this level.

"I thought we had just as many chances as they did.

"Second-half they started to get on the ball and show bravery. When they started to believe that we deserve to be at this level then we looked like a different team.

"We had a bit of a conversation at half-time and said there's no point coming to these games if we aren't going to give a true reflection of ourselves and in the first-half we didn't.

"Second-half for longer periods we did and as they sit in the changing room they are disappointed we didn't get anything.

"We'll take nothing away, they are a very good side. They play good football and have good players, but I'll take away that they aren't a million miles from us and if we show confidence and bravery next week you never know what will happen."

Elsewhere, BBC Sport NI have announced that they’ll be streaming or televising 12 Premiership games up until the ‘Big Two’ derby between Linfield and Glentoran at Windsor Park on Friday, 6 October.

That fixture, along with Larne’s home clash against the Blues on September 15, will be broadcast live on BBC Two NI while the other ten will be available via streaming on their website.

Full BBC coverage (up until October 6): Friday 4 August - Coleraine v Ballymena United (live stream), Saturday 5 August - Linfield v Cliftonville (live stream), Friday 11 August - Glentoran v Larne (live stream), Tuesday 15 August - Loughgall v Glentoran (live stream), Friday 18 August - Ballymena United v Linfield (live stream), Saturday 26 August - Cliftonville v Larne (live stream), Friday 1 September - Carrick Rangers v Dungannon Swifts (live stream), Friday 15 September - Larne v Linfield (BBC Two NI), Saturday 16 September - Crusaders v Cliftonville (live stream), Friday 22 September - Glentoran v Coleraine (live stream), Saturday 30 September - Glenavon v Larne (live stream), Friday 6 October - Linfield v Glentoran (BBC Two NI).