Conor McMenamin showed his class once again to help fire Glentoran top of the Danske Bank Premiership thanks to a 4-0 win over nearest rivals Larne.
The Northern Ireland international, who was unplayable at times, scored the opener early in the first half then set up Jay Donnelly and Danny Purkis in the second, before sealing a deserved three points at The Oval with the fourth via a deflection from Fuad Sule.
Both sides came into the fixture with unbeaten records in the league intact, and impressive goals against statistics.
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The Glens had only conceded one goal in their previous nine games so far with Larne only three worse off with an extra game played.
So the big question was would something give on the night?
That was answered with ten minutes on the clock as hosts took the lead.
Shay McCartan was sent sprawling out on the right-hand side and McMenamin's inswinging free-kick evaded everyone before finding the net via the far post.
Cian Bolger glanced a header wide for Larne before another Ben Doherty corner three minutes before the break saw Jay Donnelly deny Shaun Want at the near post.
Right on half-time there was a flare up as Ruaidhri Donnelly went down following a coming together with Bolger.
The Larne defender was shown a yellow card with Donnelly having to be patched up before being replaced by Danny Purkis.
The visitors were also forced into a change as Leroy Millar, who had a clash of heads with Bobby Burns before the break, was replaced by Shea Gordon.
McMenamin took control of things midway through the second half.
He picked out Donnelly at the back post and he made no mistake heading home from close range.
A poor back header from Jeff Hughes almost let Purkis in for a third as the hosts pressed on.
The big striker didn't have long to wait on his goal though as McMenamin teed him up for a tap in with 67 minutes gone.
It was fitting that McMenamin wrapped things up on 83 minutes as he ripped Larne open down the left again before finding the net thanks to a deflection from Sule.
He exited to a standing ovation soon after, as the Glens flexed their muscles in the title race.
At Mourneview Park Glenavon came out on top against Ballymena United in a five-goal thriller.
Jordan Gibson headed the visitors in front midway through the first half.
Matthew Fitzpatrick levelled things up at the start of the second half before Danny Wallace edged them in front.
Conor Keeley restored parity but Jack Malone put Glenavon back in front from the penalty spot.
Rory Brown then denied Ryan Waide from the penalty spot as Glenavon held on.
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