Sky Blues cruise, Carrick win and in-form Offord - Premiership takeaways

Offord has four league goals in two games for Linfield

Gameweek four of the Irish Premiership took place over a full weekend and brought plenty of goals across the six games, including a late winner, and more red card controversy.

Glentoran remain top of the table after a fourth successive victory whilst Ballymena United, Carrick Rangers and Linfield extended their winning runs.

Coleraine remain unbeaten and Larne picked up a first win of the campaign but Glenavon, Dungannon Swifts and Cliftonville are all still hunting for their first three points after disappointing defeats.

BBC Sport NI looks at five talking points from this weekend's games.

Coleraine leave it late

Shevlin came off the bench to net a late winner for Coleraine

It may sound foolish given they have made an unbeaten start to the season, but a new-look Coleraine have yet to really burst into life.

Despite their array of attacking talent, it hasn't all seemed to click over 90 minutes yet, which is not necessarily a bad thing at this stage, given they are still picking up wins when they may not be at their best.

Saturday's hard-fought and controversial late 2-1 win against Glenavon at Mourneview Park was an example of the kind of result that could prove crucial if they are to challenge for the Irish Premiership title as many expect them to this year.

Whilst all the focus has been on Joel Cooper and other high-profile additions such as Lewis McGregor and Will Patching, it was a player who had previously been the main man - Matthew Shevlin, who stepped up to deliver when Coleraine needed him most.

Shevlin, who came off the bench, nodded home from Lyndon Kane's pinpoint cross to steal all three points.

Coleraine were of course helped by the fact Glenavon, who had produced a resilient second-half display to get back in the game, had Francely Lomboto sent off by referee Mark Dillon for an off the ball incident with Kane.

It changed the momentum of the game, left Glenavon boss Paddy McLaughlin fuming and ultimately helped the Bannsiders claim what could be an important win.

Sky Blues shine again

Rewind to this time last year and Ballymena United had lost their first four games and concern was growing.

Whilst they went on to enjoy a winning run which saw them top the table at one point of the season before falling off horribly at the end of at the end of last season, they will hope they have started as they mean to go on this time around.

Jim Ervin's side have won their first three league games for the first time since 1952 and are yet to concede a goal.

New signings such as David Toure, Ali Gould and Joel Thomspon have settled into the team seamlessly and helped strengthen their defence whilst having a fit Ben Kennedy once again has been beneficial at the other end.

Another who has made a good start is Kian Corbally, who netted twice in the 4-0 win against Bangor.

He is a young player who has shown glimpses since arriving from Wexford in January and Ervin will hope with a full pre-season under his belt he can start to produce regularly.

A positive start is also key given they have a tough next five fixtures against Larne, Glentoran, Cliftonville, Linfield and Crusaders.

Carrick take everyone by surprise

Few would have predicted that Carrick Rangers would be sitting in the top half of the table with three wins from their opening three games, but here we are!

Stephen Baxter's decision to sign so many experienced ex-Crusaders players has so far been vindicated, with Adam Lecky scoring twice in the impressive 2-0 victory away against Dungannon Swifts.

Carrick played to their strengths and twice delivered crosses that fell perfectly for Lecky to do what he does best - finish with his head.

They also limited the Swifts to few chances as they recorded another clean sheet.

By contrast, it was another sorry afternoon for hosts Dungannon, who were outfought and outworked again and remain at the foot of the table.

Their defending was poor for both of Lecky's goals, and they rarely threatened at the other end, a stark contrast to last season.

Games against fellow strugglers Bangor and Glenavon have suddenly become very important as the Swifts desperately hope to get off the mark.

Larne's Friday night party

Mark Randall scored twice as Larne eased past Portadown on Friday

Friday nights at Inver Park have been kind to Larne in recent years and they delivered again under the lights at home by thrashing Portadown 4-0.

Despite a turbulent week with manager Nathan Rooney departing on Monday and Gary Haveron stepping in as interim boss for Tuesday night's draw with Cliftonville, they produced a professional display against the Ports to ease to victory on Friday.

Mark Randall pulled the strings, netting twice and unselfishly passing up the opportunity for a hat-trick as he let Tiernan O'Connor hit the second penalty.

James Simpson, who was thrown in for his full debut against Cliftonville, again performed admirably as a wing-back on Friday as they limited a poor Ports side to very few chances.

Their performance was made all the more impressive by the fact Larne were missing influential players such as Aaron Donnelly and Conor McKendry through suspension and the likes of Andy Ryan, Cian Bolger and Leroy Millar through injury.

If Larne continue to perform like that under Haveron during his second spell as interim boss, he may well put himself in contention to take the job permanently.

Linfield avoid European hangover

The Kieran Offord that started the season like a house on fire for Crusaders has finally showed up in abundance at the start of this new campaign for Linfield.

Offord followed up his opening day hat-trick against Dungannon Swifts with a fine winner from outside the box against Cliftonville.

Add to that three European goals and he already has seven for the season after netting just two in the second half of the season after arriving from Crusaders in January.

He is going a long way to filling the Joel Cooper shaped hole in the Linfield team in terms of meaningful contributions.

His strike also helped the Blues avoid a European hangover from their midweek defeat to Shelbourne.

It was a typically efficient display from Linfield, like we saw on many occasions last year on their way to winning the league and means they have two wins from two games to start the season.

In contrast, Cliftonville have played double the amount of league games and have only two points.

The Reds looked rather toothless and lacking in creativity with Jim Magilton so far making multiple changes for each game which suggests he is still trying to figure out his best team as he looks to get Cliftonville up and running.

Their defending was soft for Offord's goal, although it was a fine finish, and they didn't ever really look like getting back in the game, even after the introduction of Joe Gormley.

Their home game against fellow winless side Glenavon, managed by ex-Reds boss Paddy McLaughlin now looks like a must-win.