Larne and Blues draw as Glens thrash Cliftonville

Larne extended their lead at the top of the Irish Premiership but by just one point as they played out a 1-1 draw with Linfield at Inver Park.

Leroy Millar gave the leaders a first-half lead, but the Blues hit back after the break through Adam Frizzell with Millar later shown a red card.

The result means Gary Haveron's side, without a win in four league games, hold a three-point advantage on Coleraine with Linfield five behind.

Glentoran made ground on the leaders as Pad Hoban and Jordan Stewart hit two goals apiece in a 4-0 win at Cliftonville to move to within eight points of Larne with two games in hands.

Bottom of the table Glenavon claimed away to 2-2 draw at Ballymena United with Kian Corbally giving the hosts the lead late in the first half before Paul McGovern levelled minutes later.

Nathaniel Ferris gave the Lurgan Blues the advantage in the second period, but they were pegged back by Sean Murray with the game ending level.

Larne opened the scoring on 13 minutes as, after Rohan Ferguson produced a stunning save to deny Kirk Millar, Larne broke up the other end of the pitch and Leroy Millar was played in behind by Matty Lusty and confidently slotted past the onrushing Chris Johns.

Linfield had the better of the chances after falling behind most notably from Kyle McClean who had a low volley well saved before Millar failed to get the necessary power on a back post header. For Larne, Matt Ridley glanced a header just wide from a Chris Gallagher corner.

David Healy brought on Adam Frizzell at the break and that turned into an inspired move as the former Derry City man appeared to get the final touch on a Sam Taylor corner albeit it could well have been an own goal.

Either way, the Blues were level but the game turned somewhat niggly and bitty with free-kicks being dished out at great frequency by referee Chris Morrison.

The game was simmering away and it all boiled over on 80 minutes when goal-scorer Milar was sent off for a studs-up lunge on Ethan McGee.

Ultimately, the best chance for the visitors was another effort from Frizzell but his looping volley dipped too late to trouble Ferguson meaning it was honours even at Inver Park.

After a quiet opening at Solitude, the Glens came closest to breaking the deadlock after Ryan Cooney let fly from 25 yards, but his dipping, curling effort was pushed to safety by an alert Lewis Ridd.

Declan Devine's men continued to threaten from set plays and went close as MJ Kamson Kamara met Danny Amos's inviting corner, but failed to hit the target.

That pressure should have told minutes later when Pat Hoban out-muscled Shaun Leppard and raced through with Lewis Ridd to beat, only for the Cliftonville goalkeeper to stand tall and deny the former Derry City striker.

After the interval, the away side maintained their momentum as Ross Clarke cut in from the right to exchange passes with Aaron McEneff before seeing his right-footed strike from 20 yards tipped behind by Ridd.

The breakthrough arrived just after the hour mark when Pat Hoban converted coolly from the penalty spot after Joe Toole's high challenge on Aaron McEneff prompted Tim Marshall to point to the spot.

The visitors doubled their advantage midway through the second half as MJ Kamson Kamara diverted Ryan Cooney's corner into the path of substitute Stewart, who pounced to head home from close range.

The points were effectively secured five minutes later when Stewart collected possession from McEneff under no pressure and curled into the far bottom corner.

Deep into injury time, Hoban rounded off a memorable night for Declan Devine's men after latching onto a mistake from the Cliftonville rearguard and slotting home his 19th league goal of the season.

Ballymena almost struck within the opening two minutes when Kian Corbally's pass split the Glenavon defence but keeper Jacob Carney was quickly off his line to block Success Edogun's effort with his body.

Glenavon's best opening of the first half came when full-back Paddy Burns whipped in a cross from the left which Paul McGovern met with a glancing header and Ballymena keeper Brad Wade was relieved to see the effort whistle narrowly wide.

Ballymena broke the deadlock a minute before the interval when Matthew Clarke got to the bye-line and stood up a cross which David Toure headed back towards the far post, leaving Kian Corbally with a close-range headed tap-in.

Remarkably, Glenavon levelled in first-half injury time when Paul McGovern kept his cool to drill home a low shot through a ruck of players after United keeper Brad Wade had kept out a couple of initial efforts.

Ballymena had the ball in the net again before the half-time whistle but Aaron Jarvis' effort from a Dylan McGeouch free kick was ruled out for offside.

The Lurgan Blues went in front on 57 minutes as they broke quickly with Luke McGerrigan feeding Peter Campbell. He tried to curl a low shot into the far corner with the ball eventually breaking for Nathaniel Ferris to slide home from close range.

Ballymena levelled on 62 minutes when half-time substitute Sean Murray's low shot trundled past Carney and into the net with the aid of a couple of deflections.

Glenavon almost won it in the closing stages when Ferris' low shot was cleared off the line by Ballymena defender Daithi McCallion.