Gary Haveron delighted that Larne remain within 'touching distance' of the top-two after victory at the Ballymena Showgrounds

The Inver men closed the gap on the top two – Coleraine and Glentoran – with a dominant performance, garnished with two excellent strikes from O’Neill and Conor McKendry.

Haveron’s men are now only six points behind the table-topping Bannsiders, but crucially have played two games less.

Once O’Neill shot the visitors ahead on 20 minutes, the result was never in doubt.

“I thought Paul was super,” said Haveron. “He had a goal disallowed before he shot us into the lead, but he was clearly onside, it should have stood.

“We were really disappointed with that decision. I felt it was the wrong decision at the time. When we watched it back, it was clearly the wrong decision.

“Big moments change the outcome in games. Thankfully, we were not left to rue that one. It was Paul’s first League goal of the season, but I’m sure there will be more to come.

“We scored two really good goals, and we could have had more, it was a really dominant first half performance.

“Mark Randall had a ridiculous effort from about 40 yards that hit the crossbar, and Paul went clean on a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and he’ll be disappointed he hasn’t hit the target.”

Haveron insisted hit was vital his boys pocketed three points, especially as the top two had already banked victories.

“There was little bit of pressure,” he added. “You want to be in touching distance of the teams around you...you want to be there or thereabouts.

“We know if we win our two games in hand, we go right into the mix again. At two-nil, I felt it was a score line we could have built on, but I’ve got to be happy with the result and a clean sheet.

“I think we were a joy to watch in the first 45 minutes. I enjoyed watching them and how they knocked the ball about. When Ballymena changed their shape and went from back to front, we showed another side of our game, we had to dig in and be resilient.”

Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin was once again left to lament costly defensive errors.

“We were very poor in the first half and we conceded cheap goals once again – I'm beginning to sound like a broken record,” he said.

“But the players know it, we didn’t lock on to dangerous players in the box. We don’t stop the cross and we are not tight on their strikers.

“It is extremely frustrating because the goals were so cheap. Everyone understands their jobs in training – they are all on the money. But when they go on to the pitch, they are scared, that’s the only way I can describe it.

“We changed our shape in the second and were a bit better, but it’s always difficult when you are chasing two goals.

“Larne managed the game really well in the second half, it did what they needed to do. I was pleased with the second half to a degree, but the first half was shocking.”