The project was already underway by that stage, but perhaps the first big ripple in the Larne story involved a transfer from Waterford all the way back in 2017.
Derry-born David McDaid had spent a season at the RSC and had starred as Alan Reynolds' side earned promotion back to the top-flight when word got around that the striker was keen for a move back north.
At 26 years of age and with a history of goals behind him, interest was obviously high amongst Irish League clubs, as well as from the likes of Sligo Rovers, however, when Linfield entered the race, a familiar conclusion seemed inevitable with the Windsor Park giants holding so much pulling power.
They were champions too, but in one of the most seismic transfers in a long time, McDaid opted to head to Inver Park and a Larne side that were, at that point, viewed as potential relegation candidates to the third tier after a slow start to the season with 69 people showing up for their opening game of that campaign.
The snub hurt, no doubt about it. Then – and current – Linfield boss David Healy remarked that "maybe he couldn’t handle the challenge of coming to play at the champions" and accusations of following the money persisted from some Blues supporters.
Looking back, McDaid can’t help but laugh when reliving the episode with RTÉ Sport.
It was Larne boss Tiernan Lynch, who came very close to taking over Scottish Premiership outfit St Johnston last month, who made the first contact when he decided to move on from Waterford, and the club were at so far removed from the headlines that McDaid thought he was still coaching with Glentoran.
That phone call though would prove to be a real sliding doors moment for the east Antrim side who have since won back-to-back Premiership titles and have made history by becoming the first Irish League side to reach the group stage - or league phase, under the new UEFA formats - of a major European competition with Shamrock Rovers amongst their opponents in the coming weeks in the UEFA Conference League.
"Usually when Linfield come knocking you can’t turn them down," McDaid said.
"To be honest, I had met David Healy that day and told him I was coming back to sign.
"Tiernan Lynch was the first person to contact me when I said I was leaving Waterford, so it was just out of pure manners I was going to tell him 'no' to his face. I didn’t want to be rude, but I had no interest in signing for Larne.
"I told David I’d be back in half an hour to sign, but that half hour turned into an hour-and-a-half meeting with Larne and I would say it’s the most important one and a half hours I’ve spent in a meeting in my life. It was the best decision I ever made."
In three and a half seasons before moving on to Ballymena, McDaid fired Larne to new heights and although he left just before their first-ever Premiership title, it was his double against former club Cliftonville that secured their initial venture into Europe in 2021.
To reach the top you need to building bricks though, or in the case of the Larne, Purplebricks.
Not quite Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney welcoming us to Wrexham, but money from America has no doubt played a part in Larne’s revival.
Larne native, and at the time America-based, Kenny Bruce bought the club in 2017 and has invested millions into the club since.
A co-founder of the estate agent Purplebricks, he wanted to give something back to his home town, both on the pitch and with upgrades to Inver Park. American businessman Scott Krase and the Veeck family have also become minority stakeholders in recent years.
"He could sell snow to an eskimo," current Glenavon player McDaid said of Bruce.
"Everyone calls you a mercenary but anyone who hasn’t met Kenny Bruce – they can talk about money or whatever, but to hear that man speak or be in a room when he’s trying to sell you something...
"In that room, the vision that he sold to me was exactly that vision that Larne is now, and I mean to a tee.
"It wasn’t just the football, it was the ground, the changing rooms, the academy, starting from scratch.
"A lot of managers and owners gloss over stuff but everything he said has come true. I was sold."
That mercenary barb has accompanied the side throughout their journey.
For director of communications and life-time Larne fan Ian Cahoon, it’s inevitable, but he points to their Conference League play-off win over Lincoln Red Imps as proof that a bigger budget can only take you so far.
On a dramatic night, the Reds overturned a first leg deficit to win 4-3 on aggregate with Andy Ryan nabbing a hat-trick as they had to dig in following Chris Gallagher’s dismissal early in the second half.
"Over the last four or five years we’ve had to deal with a different type of pressure," Cahoon said of a club that was in the headlines back in January following Marcus Rashford's mid-season visit to the club's academy, or more specifically his subsequent trip to a Belfast nightclub, that caused a stir with Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag.
"The pressure used to be will the wages get paid in time and now the pressure is can we handle going toe-to-toe with Linfield? Can we handle not being everyone’s favourite team?
"When we were in the Championship there were teams with lower gates than us but they were able to out-pay us, and that’s just the way it was.
"The tables have turned in that sense; there are always going to be clubs that can pay top wages, clubs in the middle and clubs at the bottom. We’ve learnt to deal with that, or rather we are learning to deal with it.
"The big thing from that second leg (v Red Imps) was the heart and the commitment of the players.
"You go a goal down, that could have sunk us; you lose your captain at half-time (Cian Bolger), that could have sunk us; you have a man sent off with half an hour to go, that could have sunk us.
"I remember saying to Kenny after it was how about we did it. We hear about players being mercenaries, they're there for the money, but there is a little bit more than that and the play-off showed it.
"The play-off showed that the players had really bought into making that history."
It’s a far cry from the Larne side Cahoon watched in the years before Bruce’s transformation.
Year after year after year in the second tier – the Championship – with little prospect of a return to playing with the big boys.
Even the club's Irish Cup final record – six appearances, six losses – pointed to a club that just couldn’t catch a break. And that’s before we bring up the 2003 League Cup penalty shoot-out loss to Cliftonville and Derek Delaney’s controversial disallowed goal when Larne were leading 1-0.
"The speed at which things change can really leave you catching your breath sometimes. It's been incredible and all for the better," Cahoon added.
"It’s hard to put your finger on one low point but we were in the Championship for nine years in the end. You’re thinking we might get back up and then you realise we’re not even close to that.
"For a club striving to be a top-tier team, that feeling of not knowing if you’d ever get back was tough.
"Within those years, you had clubs like Ballinamallard passing us on the way up and we were on the way down. We were looking over our shoulder and you learn very quickly that there’s no divine right to be at any level.
"The lower you get the lower the crowds get, the lower the crowds get the lower the budget gets.
"I remember being on an away trip with a guy I travelled with and saying we’re going to need something out of the ordinary here, we’re going to need someone to light the blue touch paper and Kenny not only lit the blue touch paper but took us on a rocket to the moon."
Larne’s league phase campaign starts with a trip to face Molde, of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer fame, on 3 October.
The side have dipped their toes into European action in recent seasons and in Mark Randall, they have a player who has more experience that most in continental competition.
The 35-year-old got his first taste in a Champions League qualifier with Arsenal back in 2008, replacing Theo Walcott early in the second half in a 2-0 win over an FC Twente side that had a certain Ten Hag as assistant manager under Steve McClaren.
His full Champions League debut would come against Porto in December of that year as the Portuguese side won 2-0 to take top spot in the group.
"The first thing I remember is coming on and getting nut-megged straight away," Randall said of that testing night at Estádio do Dragão.
"Once we got through in the group stages, Arsene Wenger liked to give some of the younger players an opportunity and I got a chance against Porto when I came on for a little bit. [I was] on the bench against Galatasaray, I didn't get on but the experience and everything was great."
Randall also featured in the Premier League and in their run to the 2006/07 League Cup final where they lost to Chelsea, coming off the bench against both West Brom and Everton and had a fine view from the Anfield bench as Júlio Baptista scored four times as they Gunners claimed an incredible 6-3 win.
In a career that also took him to the likes of Burnley, helping them to earn promotion to the Premier League, and Ascoli in Italy, Larne may seem like it would struggle to excite him, but nothing could be further from the truth having spent the last few years in Antrim.
"I came over for a week to see if I liked it, I came over and really enjoyed myself, loved all the boys, loved everything about the club and it went from there," Randall said of his first impressions of Larne.
"It's nice and relaxed than England, it's less stressful.
"There's a nice coast road five minutes from the house so we like to take the kids down there, onto the beach, and just chill out. When the sun's nice it's a lovely place to be.
"Probably one of the best decisions I ever made, coming over. I moved my family and they love it.
"Playing over 200 games or close to 200 games, winning two league titles, the Co Antrim Shield, it's great, it's what I wanted to achieve before I came over."
Few of those 200 will be as high profile as the matches to come in the next few months.
A big red circle will go around their 24 October clash with the League of Ireland’s Shamrock Rovers at Windsor Park, given Inver Park is unable to host the all-Ireland clash.
McDaid is hoping Glenavon’s schedule allows him to make the trip to Windsor, the ground that he came so close to calling home seven years ago.
Healy will no doubt be there to watch too, but despite that transfer wrangle, there’s no bad blood there.
"I still talk to David constantly," McDaid said.
"Larne was an unbelievable move for me and I’ll never regret it, but I always wanted to work under David for the type of player he was and how relatable that was to me.
"He was a striker of similar stature, similar build and they won two league titles when I was at Larne, so I missed out on that.
"We still talk to this day and he would never pass you. He’s a great fella and he’s done so well at Linfield, he’s done wonders and I don’t think he gets the plaudits he’s due."
For now though, those plaudits are heading Larne’s way. A historical first awaits in Norway and this story has plenty of brickwork left yet.
