Larne showed their title credentials as they brushed aside Ballymena United to open up a six-point gap at the top of the league.
The Invermen never looked in any serious threat of not taking advantage of their game in hand over their title rivals after Lee Bonis fired them in front in the 40th minute.
It got even better in the second half as a Ryan Waide own goal and a clever finish from Andy Ryan sealed a deserved win for the visitors.
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David McDaid and Dougie Wilson handed the Sky Blues a boost by returning to the starting eleven after missing Friday night's defeat by Glentoran.
The visitors also made two changes to the side which beat Cliftonville at the weekend with former Ballymena defender Albert Watson and Graham Kelly replacing Shaun Want and Michael Glynn in the starting line-up.
Unsurprisingly it was the league leaders who looked the most threatening in the opening exchanges as Cian Bolger looped a header wide before Bonis fizzed a long-range effort over the bar.
The striker forced Jordan Williamson into a smart stop on the quarter hour as he got on the end of a Leroy Millar cross.
The hosts responded with an opportunity of their own on 21 minutes as Stephen McCulloigh's deep cross picked out McDaid at the far post, but he uncharacteristically failed to hit the target.
Just as Larne were starting to grow frustrated they got their noses in front in the 40th minute.
Kelly's quick throw sent Ryan racing into the box and he cut the ball back for his strike partner Bonis to lash home a shot from 15 yards giving Williamson no chance.
Right on the whistle the home keeper did well to claw away a dangerous Joe Thomson corner before Aaron Donnelly fired a long-range effort wide of the target.
Another dangerous Thomson corner led to Larne doubling their lead two minutes after the restart.
The set piece caused more problems in the Ballymena United defence with the ball finding the net via the unfortunate Waide.
To their credit the hosts were trying to make a fist of it but they were struggling to carve out any real opening on the Larne goal.
David Jeffrey turned to Jordan Gibson and Kenny Kane from the bench in a bid to try and inject some impetus in his attack.
Any hopes of a comeback were extinguished with 17 minutes to go as Thomas Cosgrove carved the home side open down the right before squaring for Ryan to slot home from close range.
Larne were in total control as we moved into the final ten minutes affording Lynch the opportunity to give several key players a rest before the end.
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