Linfield retained their five-point lead at the top of the Premiership with a 2-1 win at Carrick Rangers on Friday.
Nearest challengers Cliftonville were 1-0 victors at Glenavon while Crusaders moved third by beating Ballymena United by the same scoreline at Seaview.
Larne drop a spot to fourth after a 0-0 draw at Dungannon Swifts but Glentoran ended a three-game losing streak by trouncing Loughgall 6-0 at the Oval.
Coleraine secured a 2-0 victory over 10-man Newry City.
Conor McKendry scored both goals for the Bannsiders to make it four in two league matches for the livewire winger.
Jay Donnelly also grabbed a double for the rampant Glens against Loughgall while at Stangmore, Swifts were forced to play with 10 men for much of the second half.
Blues edge Carrick
Danny Purkis and Kurtis Forsythe were off-target with efforts for Carrick in a tepid first 45 minutes at Taylors Avenue, then Ben Tilney forced Chris Johns into a fine save from a fiercely hit angled drive.
Ross Glendinning palmed away Chris Shields’ effort before the Blues went in front on 61 minutes when Kirk Millar’s cross from the right was diverted into his own net by Carrick defender Kurtis Forsythe.
The visitors doubled their advantage on 71 minutes when Carrick made a poor effort at clearing a long throw and Kyle McClean turned sharply to fire a low shot past Glendinning.
Carrick reduced the deficit on 82 minutes when substitute Emmett McGuckin rose highest to head home a Ben Tilney cross.
The home side came close to an equaliser in the closing minutes when Kyle Cherry’s fierce drive was turned behind by Johns but Linfield held on for a vital win, their fifth in a row in the top flight since losing to Larne.
Reds win to keep up chase
Cliftonville made it seven games unbeaten as Rory Hale’s fourth league goal of the season in the 50th minute proved the winner.
Fullback Shea Kearney won possession on the halfway line before releasing the former Crusaders man with a perfectly weighted through ball that allowed the midfielder to fire past a helpless Rory Brown and give the Reds the lead.
The visitors had a chance to open the scoring even earlier after Ben Wilson teed up Joe Gormley in the six-yard area in the opening minute, but Rory Brown reacted superbly to post the Reds’ record scorer effort onto the crossbar.
Glenavon will be disappointed to get nothing from the game, given their dominant first-half display in which they went close through Robbie Garrett, Peter Campbell and Niall Quinn.
Jim Magilton’s side should have doubled their lead on numerous occasions but were incredibly denied by the woodwork on no less than four occasions, with top scorer Wilson twice hitting the outside of the post in the second half.
Ten-man Swifts take point against Larne
It was a first half of very few clear-cut chances at Stangmore Park but Lee Bonis blazed over from six yards out and Levi Ives felt he should have had a penalty 10 minutes before half-time when he went to ground under a challenge from Caolan Marron but Lee Tavinder waved away his appeals.
In the second half, Larne dominated possession without forcing Conor Mitchell into some fine saves. The former Larne ‘keeper denied a Paul O’Neill header with a fantastic reaction stop while Bonis struck the bar.
Dungannon managed to hold out for their second point of the season against the champions despite having captain Ethan McGee sent off just after the hour for a second bookable offence, both fouls on Ives
Larne have now dropped points in three of their of their last four as the champions stutter while Dungannon have recovered well from a heavy defeat at Solitude last week.
Glens are night’s top scorers
Warren Feeney’s Glens ran riot at the Oval, hitting Loughgall for six to secure their first win in five league games.
Two quickfire goals from Donnelly and Junior in the opening 15 minutes gave Glentoran the two goal lead that their dominance deserved.
First it was Donnelly, who made no mistake from 12-yards out to grab his first of the game. Moments later Junior was on target from close range, tapping in from no more than two yards out.
It went from bad to worse for the Villagers who found themselves four goals down before half-time. Daire O’Connor added a third on 36 minutes, before Donnelly netted his second of the match with a delightful chip just five minutes before the break.
Moments after coming on in the second half, David Fisher added a fifth for the Glens after he was brought down inside the area by Villagers skipper Ben Murdock. Patrick McClean put the icing on the cake 12 minutes from time, adding a sixth with his head.
Lecky nets Crues winner
Crusaders scored the only goal of the game in the 45th minute when Ben Kennedy latched onto Mal Smith’s throw-in before travelling to the edge of the box and passing to Jarlath O’Rourke, who played the ball back for Adam Lecky, whose resulting strike flew past Sean O’Neill.
Jim Ervin’s men made a bright start to the game and came close to grabbing an early goal when Noah Stewart, who made his starting debut, connected with Isaac Westendorf’s pass, but his attempt went inches wide of the left-hand post.
Larne loanee Westendorf was in action again, this time when he showed great skill in midfield before passing to Fraser Taylor, whose shot was denied by the alert Jonathan Tuffey.
O’Rourke came close to doubling the home side’s lead when he drilled a strong strike towards goal, but O’Neill produced a good save to deny the effort.
The result wasn’t the only negative for the away side as Colin Coates was stretchered off on the 23rd minute after the Ballymena captain injured his leg in an attempt to clear a Crusaders corner.
McKendry at the double again
Two goals from the in-form McKendry helped Coleraine to a not entirely comfortable 2-0 away win over 10-man Newry City.
Defender Stephen Moan was shown a straight red card by referee Steven Gregg after only seven minutes for a late tackle on Andy Scott but they made light of their numerical disadvantage to carve out a number of good openings.
Ciaran O’Connor and Barney McKeown both hit the woodwork in the opening quarter and Gareth Deane produced a fine save to deny Ryan McGivern.
McKendry tapped home from close range after Matthew Shevlin had challenged Newey keeper Steven Maguire and the same player made the points safe in the 57th minute when he again was in the right place at the right time to poke home following a mix-up in the Newry Cury defence.