Glenavon boss Gary Hamilton makes three changes from the thumping 5-0 Irish Cup win over Portadown as Andy Kilmartin, Mark Sykes and James Gray replace Andrew Hall, Ciaran Martyn and the injured Greg Moorhouse.

Rodney McAree's Dungannon side shows two changes from the extra-time Irish Cup win over Warrenpoint Town with Ryan Harpur and Paul McElroy taking over from Douglas Wilson and Ally Teggart.

A win will guarantee Glenavon a top-six spot while Dungannon are hoping to halt a poor Premiership run which has seen then pick up only one point in five games.

With Linfield not in action until Monday's game against Cliftonville, Crusaders will extend their Premiership advantage to 10 points if they beat second-bottom Carrick Rangers at Seaview.

The Crues are aiming to bounce from their Irish Cup quarter-final defeat by the Blues last weekend.

Carrick are without suspended defender Paddy McNally.

Stephen Baxter makes three Crusaders changes from the Irish Cup defeat by Linfield with Alan Keane, Richard Clarke and Michael Carvill replacing Rodney Brown, Declan Caddell and Andrew Mitchell.

Colin Coates remains out for the Crues because of an ankle injury while Paul Heatley is again ruled out by suspension.

Carrick boss Aaron Callaghan also makes three changes from the draw with Glenavon two weeks ago as Mark Surgenor, Daniel Kelly and Adam Salley replace suspended Paddy McNally, Tommy Elder and Nathan McConnell.

Coleraine extended their unbeaten run to 10 matches, nine of those wins, by beating Ballymena in the quarter-finals of the Irish Cup and will hope to consolidate their fourth place in the league by beating struggling Glentoran at Ballycastle Road.

The Glens retain hopes of clinching the seventh spot which may see them involved in the Europa League play-offs at the end of the season but if they are to realise that ambition they must improve on their recent sequence of two wins from 15 games.

The Bannsiders have won both previous encounters between the sides this season, running out convincing 4-1 victors at the Showgrounds and then triumphing 1-0 at the Oval.

Ballymena manager David Jeffrey rings the changes - goalkeeper Tim Allen, Johnny Flynn, Gary Thompson, Michael Kerr, Joe McKinney and Kevin Braniff all come into the starting line-up.

Ballymena will still be hurting from last week's Irish Cup mauling at the hands of derby rivals Coleraine but received a double fillip during the week with David Jeffrey being named as Football Writers' Manager of the Month for February and Tony Kane picking up the players' award.

A first-ever top six Premiership finish since the introduction of the league split was confirmed at Ferney Park a fortnight ago but the Sky Blues will hope to secure as high a finish as possible with the end-of-season Europa League play-offs in mind.

Ballymena have emerged 2-0 winners in the previous two league meetings between the sides this season, their most recent encounter having come at the Showgrounds on 3 December.

Portadown look doomed to relegation as they lie 11 points adrift of Carrick at the foot of the table but recent draws with Linfield and Crusaders have at least given the Shamrock Park faithful something to cheer.

Ards make it seven points from three matches with a 2-0 home win over Ballinamallard United.

Michael Ruddy scored a first-half penalty with Guillaume Keke doubling the lead after the break.

Ninth-placed are now four points ahead of the Mallards in the Premiership table.

Joel Taggart is in the presenter's chair for Sportsound from 14:00 GMT on BBC Radio Ulster, with full coverage of all the day's games.

Mark Sidebottom will take us through the action from all four matches on Final Score from Northern Ireland at 17:00 GMT on BBC One NI.

Good afternoon, and welcome to our coverage of this afternoon's four matches in the Irish Premiership.

Yes, after last Saturday's dalliance with knockout competition in the form of of the Irish Cup quarter-finals, we are back to the 'bread and butter' of the league today.

Ards got their weekend off to the best possible start and eased fears of being dragged into the relegation zone by defeating Ballinamallard United 2-0 last night.

Linfield play Cliftonville on Monday so Crusaders have the chance to put 10 points between them and their nearest challengers at the top of the table if they can beat Carrick Rangers at Seaview.

Elsewhere Coleraine put their long unbeaten run on the line at home to Glentoran, while Glenavon can ensure their place in the top six ahead of the league split in two weeks' time if they avoid defeat against Dungannon Swifts at Mourneview Park.

Ballymena United and basement club Portadown will both hope to bounce back from heavy defeats by their derby rivals in the cup last week when they meet at the Showgrounds.

Read a full preview of Saturday's action here .