Five minutes remaining in this one though, you could argue, the game was over a long time ago.

Danny Gibson leads the Carrick break, and the ball falls to Paul Heatley, who keeps the move alive after the Lurgan Blues defence fails to clear.

The winger spins neatly on the edge of the box and fires with his left foot, but it’s straight at Mark Byrne. The Glenavon keeper holds on as the visitors push for a late equaliser.

Ballymena lose Ryan McNickle to injury after the striker, in tracking back to attempt to halt a Glentoran attack, seems to fall awkwardly and is assisted off with a shoulder injury.

Francely Lomboto bursts into the penalty area with real purpose and finds Corey Smith, who cuts inside onto his right foot and lets fly.

His effort is blocked bravely by Jack Scott, who throws himself in the way to keep Carrick alive.

Ballymena cough up possession deep in the Glentoran half and the home side break virtually the full length of the field with Cammy Palmer's shot drifting inches wide of the far post.

Image source, Pacemaker Press

More subs than action right now as Ruaidhri Higgins empties his bench with 10 minutes remaining.

Joel Cooper and Matthew Shevlin make way and are replaced by Lewis McGregor and Declan McManus.

Kyle Cherry and Sean Carlin clash in midfield, both going in, and tempers flare as they tangle on the deck.

Referee Chris Morrison steps in quickly, showing Carlin a yellow for his part in the coming together.

Oran Kearney
Former Coleraine manager on Sportsound

Cliftonville have caused more problems in the last five minutes.

By just asking simple questions right down the heart of them [Larne] they have caused more problems.

Kurtis Forsythe feeds the ball through to Fraser Bryden and the Scot fires in a shot from the edge of the area but it whistles past the right-hand upright.

A great chance for Ballymena as Josh Kelly loses his footing to let Ryan McNickle in but his shot is turned behind by the alert Andrew Mills.

The Glentoran keeper has had next to nothing to do but he showed sharp reflexes there.

Sean Graham's deep corner finds Matt Ridley, whose powerful header is tipped on to the roof of the net by PJ Morrison.

The resulting corner results in a free-kick out for the hosts from which Eric McWoods' shot is blocked by Ridley. The ball is worked out right to Sean Robertson who picks out McWoods in the middle, but the American's free header is over the bar.

He should have done better.

Panic stations in the Glenavon box as the hosts fail to clear their lines, and Luke McCullough reacts quickest to nod the loose ball goalward.

It loops over the bar, though, and the Lurgan Blues survive another nervy moment late on.

Image source, Pacemaker Press

A double change for Ballymena as Aaron Jarvis and Alex Gawne replace Kian Corbally and Ben Kennedy.

A final throw of the dice for the visitors as Thomas Maguire replaces Tiernan Kelly for the final quarter of an hour.

A collision between Ballymena keeper Sean O'Neill and Glentoran striker Jordan Jenkins leaves both players on the ground.

Happily, both are able to continue after treatment.

There will be no goal 300 today for Joe Gormley and, in truth, he hasn't been close to it. He is replaced by Conor Falls while Joe Sheridan is on for Shea Gordon.

Oran O’Kane goes into the referee’s book for time-wasting over a throw-in.

Watch how Will Patching's penalty made it 4-0 for Coleraine, who have been ruthless this afternoon.

The away side makes another change as Aidan Steele is replaced by Codey James.