Irish Premiership: Cliftonville fail to go top after being held by Larne

Cliftonville missed the chance to jump to the top of the Irish Premiership table after a 0-0 draw with Larne.

Crusaders move three points behind third-placed Glentoran with a 4-1 victory over Coleraine.

Bottom side Warrenpoint Town lost 2-1 to Carrick Rangers but survive for the time being thanks to Ballymena United's 2-1 win at Portadown.

Dungannon Swifts aided any relegation worries with a 3-2 victory over Glenavon.

Knowing they could end the day top of the Irish Premiership following Linfield's 1-1 draw with Glentoran on Friday, Cliftonville were frustrated by an organised Larne defence in the first half at Solitude.

A moment of magic by Jamie McDonagh almost opened the scoring. The ball sat up kindly for the winger from 25 yards but his effort, with Rohan Ferguson beaten, rattled off the crossbar and the visitors survived.

Ben Doherty had a tame shot at Luke McNicholas at the other end after being played through by Lee Bonis, and Kris Lowe blazed over the top after a neat one-two with McDonagh on the edge of the area.

Jonny Addis showed composure to turn away Tomas Cosgrove's cross when it would have been easy to touch the ball into his own net, but it was a relatively tame first-half despite the efforts of the home support as the Reds look to win the Gibson Cup for the first time since 2014.

Tiernan Lynch introduced David McDaid at half-time and the striker immediately made an impact against his former side. Two minutes after the restart, McDaid was played in by Mark Randall but McNicholas smothered his first effort. However Cliftonville failed to clear the ball away which allowed the 31-year-old a second effort and Luke Turner pulled off a superb clearance off the line to keep the scores level.

McNicholas was tested again by McDaid from 20 yards and although the introduction of Chris Curran and Rory Hale gave the Reds a much-needed spark, they failed to test Ferguson in the Larne goal.

Jonny Addis inadvertently headed the ball clear after losing his marker from a corner and Hale curled a strike over the bar, but Paddy McLaughlin's side struggled to break down Larne and had to settle for a point which keeps them in second place, one point behind the Blues, with three games to play.

Fourth-placed Crusaders narrowed the gap on Glentoran in third to three points with an emphatic 4-1 victory away to Coleraine on what was manager Stephen Baxter's 850th match in charge of the north Belfast club.

After a quiet start to the match, Crusaders took the lead in the 17th minute when a low cross by Billy-Joe Burns from the right was miskicked by Philip Lowry and fell to Adam Lecky who swept home comfortably from close range.

Lecky turned provider for the visitors' second on 36 minutes, playing the ball into Paul Heatley who controlled it superbly before swivelling and firing a good finish past Gareth Deane.

The third goal arrived three minutes before the interval and was the best one of the match, with defender Daniel Larmour delivering an excellent finish on the half volley from just inside the corner of the box after a corner was deflected to him.

Jude Winchester added the fourth within two minutes of the restart, finding the net with a deft header after a deflected BJ Burns cross found him in the box before Josh Carson added a late consolation for Coleraine with a fine strike.

Carrick Rangers claimed an important victory in their battle to avoid relegation as they came from behind to win 2-1 at bottom side Warrenpoint Town.

The best of the first half action at Milltown was reserved for the final five minutes as firstly, Luke Wade Slater converted Steven Ball's cross from the left from close range to put the home side ahead.

Carrick levelled on the stroke of half time when Alex Gawne chased a through ball on the right hand side of the penalty area before firing past Town keeper Conor Mitchell.

The visitors completed the turnaround nine minutes into the second period when Matty Carson's cross from Emmet McGuckin set up Gawne for his second goal.

Despite defeat, Warrenpoint are still not mathematically relegated, thanks to nearest rivals Portadown losing at Ballymena. Point are nine points off the Ports with three games to play, and are seven worse off than their relegation rivals on goal difference.

At the Showgrounds, Steven McCullough's stunning left-foot free-kick from 25 yards out 10 minutes from time gave Ballymena the win and put them back in the race for seventh spot in the league.

Billy Stedman headed Portadown into the lead from a corner eight minutes before half-time and then Jordan Williamson made a fine save from George Tipton soon after.

Paul McElroy levelled from the penalty three minutes after half-time after an infringement on the edge of the area and McCullough popped up with the subline finish into the top corner to secure all three points.

Eleventh-placed Portadown find themselves seven points adrift of Dungannon Swifts and seemingly bound for the relegation-promotion play-off.

Ballymena's victory puts pressure back on Glenavon, who lost a topsy-turvy game 3-2 to Dungannon Swifts at Stangmore Park.

There was a blistering start when the Swifts took the lead inside the opening 12 seconds. Rhyss Campbell's shot hit the post and although James Convie's initial shot was saved by Glenavon keeper Josh Clarke, the midfielder kept his cool to slot home the rebound.

The home side doubled their lead on 16 minutes when referee Evan Boyce adjudged that Mark Haughey had impeded Rhyss Campbell's run and James Knowles converted the resultant penalty.

Glenavon found a rather fortuitous way back into the game just after the half hour when a cross from the right was diverted into his own net at full stretch by Swifts defender Garry Breen.

Two minutes later Glenavon were level when Conor McCloskey placed a stunning free kick into the top corner of the net.

The second half was less frantic with Glenavon going close when Matthew Fitzpatrick's header came back off the crossbar while a Ryan Mayse effort for Dungannon met the same fate.

But the final twist went in Dungannon's favour as Mayse's cross was deflected into his own net by Matthew Snoddy.

The defeat means Glenavon are now just one point ahead of Ballymena United with both sides battling for seventh position and the final European play-off place.