What a weekend of Danske Bank Premiership action it proved to be as the games on both Friday evening and Saturday afternoon were packed with no shortage of goals, excitement and incident.

It all began in front of the BBC Sport NI cameras as Glentoran swept to a three-goal victory over derby rivals Linfield under the Windsor Park lights.

Scoreless at the break, Bobby Burns fired the Glens in front early in the second half with a deflected effort from outside the area. Substitute Danny Purkis made it 2-0 with just under a quarter-of-an-hour remaining before doubling his tally in stoppage time.

Leaders Larne went one better, however, with a 4-0 win over Cliftonville at Inver Park at the same time.

Paul O’Neill fired Tiernan Lynch’s side in front midway through the first half but the real star of the show was Lee Bonis who bagged a sensational six-minute hat-trick between the 70th and 76th minutes to keep Larne a point clear at the top.

Moving onto Saturday, there was an abundance of breathless drama on Warden Street as Ballymena United edged to a derby win over Coleraine. Mikey Place fired United in front after a quarter-of-an-hour, a lead they held until midway through the second half when Matthew Shevlin levelled for the Bannsiders.

Oran Kearney’s side were reduced to nine men when both Conor McDermott and Adam Mullan were sent off for separate incidents a few minutes apart late in the game.

There was more to come, however, when Ross Redman curled home the stoppage time free-kick resulting from Mullan’s dismissal … but there was still time for Coleraine to stage a frantic attempt to salvage an equaliser with only some desperate defending kept them at bay!

Adam Lecky proved to be the supersub as Crusaders twice came from behind to get the better of Glenavon at Seaview.

Eoin Bradley opened the scoring in the closing minutes of the first half but Philip Lowry levelled just before the break with a looping header.

Conor Scannell made no mistake from a Peter Campbell cross to restore Glenavon’s advantage but a Lecky double just after the hour mark saw the Crues claim the points. He headed the first past Rory Brown from Jarlath O’Rourke’s corner before volleying the second home just home minutes after that.

Carrick Rangers put their recent poor run of results behind them with a comprehensive 3-0 home win over Dungannon Swifts.

The evergreen Curtis Allen hit the first on 24 minutes with a header from Emmett McGuckin’s cross, and made it 2-0 early in the second half after Ben Tilney had found him from the left flank. Andy Mitchell completed the scoring with less than a quarter-of-an-hour to go with a left-sided corner which took a touch off defender Garry Breen on it’s way into the net.

Newry City wrapped the weekend up with a 3-1 defeat of Portadown at Shamrock Park.

Alberto Balde edged the Ports in front early in the second half, but Daniel Hughes levelled soon after from the spot. That was how it stayed until the final few minutes when James Teelan made no mistake from close range before, in stoppage time, Ciaran O’Connor knocked home a third after hitting one post, seeing the ball roll across the goalline and going in off the other post!