Repair a 3ft tear in pool liner

I just purchased a new home with an inground pool. We took off the wooden cover that was on it and found it about 1/4 full of water. The liner looks to be fairly new ( I don't know anything about pools but there doesn't seem to be any fading). There is a tear about 3ft long where the liner ripped out of one of the jets and there seems to be a little bit of shrinkage. Is this repairable? We really would like to open the pool this year, but really can't afford a new liner. The local pool stores say I need a new liner but I'm hoping there is a way to salvage it. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I would post a picture, but can't figure out how to do it here.

during a big storm a piece of ply wood flew into my pool (maybe 3 years ago or so) and put a slice in my pool, maybe a foot - 1.25 feet. I went to the pool store, asked if the had any liner cut offs, or anything of the sort that I could get/buy wich they gladly gave me a peice about 5 feet long. I cut it about twice the size of the hole, and about 12" wide and glued that peice over the hole like a small patch repair.
it has lasted 3 years now... saved me a lot of money on liner repair. doesn't look pretty however as you can see the difference in the liner, and since I did with water in it, the liner wasn't stretched in that spot so the pattern has a U shape in that area.. I dont think it's a permanent fix. However it may get you a few years. before you ahve to replace the full liner.