Larne and Linfield draw as Coleraine and Glens win

Larne hold a seven-point advantage over Linfield and Cliftonville with seven games to play

Irish Premiership title rivals Larne and Linfield played out a goalless draw at Inver Park.

Rhys Marshall scored twice as Glentoran returned to winning ways with a 5-1 victory away to Carrick Rangers.

Coleraine defeat Ballymena United 3-1 to move level on points with Crusaders in fourth position.

• Tuesday's Irish Premiership action - as it happened

Linfield dropped two points in their pursuit of league leaders Larne after a nervy 0-0 draw at Inver Park, which moved the home side a point closer to a first Irish Premiership title.

Paul O'Neill should have opened the scoring inside the opening two minutes but the striker's touch from Michael Glynn's cross was directed straight at Chris Johns when it looked easier to score.

Linfield lacked any cutting edge in their attacking play with the closest David Healy's men coming to an opener in the first half was an Eetu Vertainen near post header that had Rohan Ferguson scrambling in the Larne goal.

The home side had further chances to grab a winner with Andy Ryan cut in and was denied by Johns at full stretch in the 56th minute before the striker hit the crossbar six minutes later when crossing to the backpost.

The biggest chance of the half would fall to Tiernan Lynch's men on the 70th minute after Joe Thomson fired over the bar from the edge of the area after Ryan's pullback.

Larne thought they had won the game in injury-time but Johns pulled off a sublime save to keep out Thomas Maguire's deflected effort from the edge of the area.

The draw keeps Larne ahead of Linfield and Cliftonville with seven games remaining, although the Reds have a game in hand over their two rivals.

Glentoran return to winning ways

Glentoran ended a run of three games without a win with a 5-1 success over Carrick Rangers at Taylors Avenue.

The visitors took a fourth-minute lead with a goal which had a touch of the bizarre in the build-up as Kyle Cherry attempted to lay a free-kick deep in Glentoran half into the path of Andy Mitchell to strike, but the wayward pass didn't reach its intended target and instead was intercepted.

Glentoran broke quickly in numbers and the move culminated in Joe Crowe's cross being met with a glancing header by Marshall.

The former Glenavon and Shamrock Rovers player, deployed in a central midfield role, doubled his and Glentoran's tally on 13 minutes when he was found in all sorts of space in the penalty area to steer home a shot after Jay Donnelly's shot had ricocheted off Carrick defender Mark Surgenor into his path.

It was almost 3-0 soon afterwards as Terry Devlin's inch-perfect through ball split the Carrick defence for Conor McMenamin, included in Michael O'Neill's Northern Ireland squad, to race clear but Rangers keeper Ross Glendinning was quickly off his line to block with his legs.

Glentoran grabbed a third goal six minutes after the interval when Aidan Wilson strode forward towards the Carrick penalty area and his pass once again cannoned off a Rangers defender before falling nicely for James Singleton to sweep home.

Carrick pulled a goal back on the our mark when Mitchell's free kick was volleyed home by Lloyd Anderson.

But as the home side tried to find an unlikely route back into the game, Glentoran put some gloss on the scoreline with two goals in injury time, firstly when substitute Danny Purkis beat the Carrick offside trap and raced clear to slot past Ross Glendinning and then minutes later, Bobby Burns was on hand to turn home a Junior cross from close range.

Coleraine beat Ballymena in derby

Coleraine warmed up for Sunday's League Cup final against Linfield with a comfortable 3-1 home win over derby rivals Ballymena United.

First half goals from Jamie Glackin and Conor McKendry, and a third early in the second period from Josh Carson, saw them claim all three points against their derby rivals, whose goal came courtesy of captain Josh Kelly.

The home side opened the scoring on the half hour with a fine individual goal from the influential Jamie Glackin.

Picking the ball up on the edge of the Ballymena penalty area, he waltzed past a number of defenders before planting the ball into the far corner past the despairing dive of Ballymena keeper Jordan Williamson.

Coleraine's lead lasted barely four minutes as Ballymena levelled through Kelly, with the skipper blasting an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net past a helpless Gareth Deane.

However, the Bannsiders re-established their advantage four minutes before the break as McKendry raced onto a perfectly weighted through ball from Glackin to chip the ball over the onrushing Williamson and into the far corner of the net.

And it was 3-1 to the home in the 54th minute as Carson timed his run perfectly to get on the end of an inviting Dean Jarvis cross from the left to score his third goal of the season.

Second half sub' Andy Scott rattled the crossbar near the end while Ballymena came close to pulling a goal back when Coleraine captain Stephen O'Donnell deflected a cross onto his own post and Ryan Waide forced a fine save from Gareth Deane.

Coleraine move level on points with Crusaders in fourth but remain behind on goal difference, while Glentoran stay in sixth but have games in hand over their top-six rivals.