Big Bangor win, postponements & Glenavon's woes - Premiership takeaways

Whilst a full set of Irish Premiership fixtures were set to take place this weekend, Storm Amy had other ideas.

Both of Friday night's games fell victim to the weather, but Saturday's four fixtures still served up plenty of intrigue.

Coleraine and Larne both failed to capitalise on leaders Glentoran's inactivity as they lost to Bangor and Dungannon Swifts.

Ballymena United came from behind to beat Carrick Rangers, while in the late kick-off, Glenavon suffered another defeat as they were beaten by rivals Portadown.

BBC Sport NI looks at some of the talking points from the latest round of action.

Whilst Glentoran will have been disappointed to have a second successive game postponed, they will be glad to still be leading the Irish Premiership table despite not being in action as others faltered.

After last week's game at the Oval against Larne was called off due to a waterlogged pitch, safety concerns for players travelling to Solitude saw their meeting with Cliftonville axed.

The Glens hold a one-point lead over the chasing pack, but it will be interesting to see how they will cope with fixture pile-up and whether their early season momentum will be eradicated by their recent inactivity.

Linfield are another side who will be playing catch up to their rivals after their home fixture against Crusaders was also called off.

The Blues are only three points off the two sides above them, but that gap could widen as they will not be in action until 17 October as their game next week against Larne was called off due to international call-ups, meaning they will have three games in hand that need pencilled into the calendar.

It has been a really impressive start to life back in the top flight for Bangor, which was encapsulated by their gutsy 2-1 win against Coleraine at Clandeboye Park on Saturday.

Lee Feeney's side raced into a two-goal lead at half-time after clinical goals from strikers Jay Boyd and Ben Arthurs.

Then, momentum shifted early in the second period as Harry Lynch was sent off after picking up a second yellow card.

Zane Okoro pulled one back for the Bannsiders soon after that, but Feeney's side dug in and produced what former Bangor defender Colin Nixon described as "manic defending" to see out their biggest win of the season.

Gareth Deane produced two big saves against his former club whilst Stephen McGuinness made a heroic last-ditch block to prevent Matthew Shevlin from equalising.

The win moves the Seasiders up to the top half of the table and they will fancy their chances in their next two games to put further distance between themselves and the relegation places, as they face struggling Glenavon and Crusaders.

It was a frustrating afternoon for Coleraine, who failed to find a way through and squandered the chance to go top.

The likes of Joel Cooper, Jamie Glackin and Will Patching were on the periphery of the game and the substitutes failed to have the desired impact.

Rodney McAree has talked cautiously in recent weeks of his hope that Dungannon Swifts have turned a corner and their 2-0 win over Larne, their third victory in a row, solidifies the view they are back to their best.

The Swifts dominated in the first half against Larne and deservedly led through goals from Tiernan Kelly and Kealan Dillon.

Sean McAllister and Junior also impressed and as the weeks go on, those two look like good additions to the Irish Cup winners alongside the industrious Kelly.

The victory moved the hosts up to seventh in the table and they can really lay down a marker and start to make Stangmore Park as a fortress by beating Glentoran there next week.

As for Larne, they were brought back down to earth with a bump as their six-game winning run was brought to a crashing halt.

Gary Haveron's side had not conceded since 19 August but proceeded to give up two goals in quick succession as they showed some rare defensive fragilities for both goals.

Their defending was poor for the corner in which Kelly was free to bundle home and Rohan Ferguson gifted possession to Junior in a dangerous area before being lobbed by Dillon for the second.

Like Coleraine, Larne will view that defeat as an opportunity missed to move top of the table.

They must stew over the defeat for two weeks as they are not in action again until 18 October, when they are away to Cliftonville.

It is really tough times for managerless Glenavon at the moment, whose predicament only seems to worsen as the season goes on.

Saturday's 3-1 defeat by Portadown was a 10th consecutive league defeat to start the season, which leaves them firmly rooted to the foot of the table and 10 points off the sides closest to them.

The Lurgan Blues parted ways with Paddy McLaughlin last weekend, with an interim management team in place for their trip to rivals Portadown.

They had a dream start to the game when 17-year-old Luke McGerrigan pounced inside five minutes to open the scoring.

Glenavon played well in the first half, but completely fell apart after Luke Wilson levelled with a free header from Ryan Mayse's cross.

Steven McCullough glanced home a near-post header after some more poor defending, before substitute Ben Quinn rubbed salt in Glenavon wounds with a stunning third.

Glenavon's players were dejected at full-time and no doubt the remit to whoever the new manager will be to keep them in the top flight.

With how they are currently playing however, that looks a tall order.

After a bright start to the season, Ballymena United have faltered of late, but they showed character to come from behind and beat Carrick Rangers 2-1 at Taylors Avenue.

After Kym Nelson cancelled out Nedas Maciulaitis's opener in the first half, Ryan McNickle finished off a slick Ballymena move to score his first goal for the club and give them all three points.

It is a win that propels the Sky Blues into fifth in the table, albeit sides around them have games in hand.

McNickle, who was one of a number of fringe players handed a start, certainly justified his selection and will hope with a consistent run of games, he could show he is ready for the step up to the top flight after joining from third tier Newry City.

Sky Blues boss Jim Ervin was delighted with what he saw from the forward.

"It's his first start, he hasn't played a lot of football for us, but he has worked extremely hard from he has come in, so I am delighted for him to get the winner," he said.

It was also a well-needed win for Ballymena given their tough run of fixtures coming up against Coleraine, Glentoran, Linfield and Larne.