"Maybe I won the mind games because he didn't get much of a kick." Irish Premiership champions Larne will be breaking new ground for the competition when they start the league phase of their Conference League campaign against Molde on Thursday evening, though their opponents are already familiar to Northern Ireland football watchers. Indeed, the tale of how a young Erling Haaland was marked out of a game by warehouse manager Andrew Doyle has gone down in Glenavon history.
When the Mid-Ulster side were drawn against the Norwegian outfit in the 2018 Europa League qualifiers, the Manchester United supporters in the squad - Doyle among them - were thrilled at the prospect of going against a side managed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. But, then still a few weeks shy of his 18th birthday, the side's young striker was already building quite the reputation. Indeed, after scoring six goals in the two league games before the tie, Glenavon's players were told there would be in the region of 20 scouts from the biggest clubs in the world coming to Lurgan for an in-person view of the superstar in waiting.
"We were watching highlights of their games, sitting watching tapes of him scoring hat-tricks, two goals here, another there," remembers Doyle, who left Glenavon last summer and has been playing for Rathcoole in junior football. "All the boys were giving me stick, 'Doyler, you'll be getting tight against him.' Everyone was winding me up.
" Aside from his reaction to Manchester City's draw with A.