Dundalk 0-1 Shamrock Rovers

Dundalk's topsy turvy start to the season continued as they were beaten by ten man Shamrock Rovers on a miserable night at Oriel Park.

In a quiet opening to the game it was the home side who looked the more likely going forward. Darren Mansaram had a half-chance in the eighth minute but he just couldn't control Harpal Singh's deep corner.

Rovers took the lead with their first attack of the game just three minutes later.

Stephen Bradley's in-swinging free-kick from the left was only half cleared by Dave Rogers and the ball fell invitingly for Stephen Rice who made no mistake past the unsighted Chris Bennion from 20-yards.

Dundalk, despite the best efforts of the impressive George O'Callaghan rarely threatened Robert Duggan's goal in the opening half hour and they were given a real scare in the 24th minute when Padraig Amond latched onto Gary Twigg's fantastic through ball but he could only steer his effort into the side netting with just Bennion to beat.

Michael O'Neil's side looked very threatening on the counter attack but they were thankful to their goalkeeper in the 38th minute for keeping the scores level.

Shaun Kelly's half-volley from the edge of the penalty area squirmed out of Duggan's grasp but the goalkeeper, drafted in at the last minute to replace the injured Barry Murphy, did brilliantly to recover and block Chris Turner's follow up.

The temperature was raised both on and off the field seconds later when Rovers' captain Stephen Bradley was dismissed for a second bookable offense after apparently speaking out of turn to the referee's assistant.

The decision incensed the visiting fans and they were up in arms on the stroke of half-time when Chris Turner left Rice in a heap following a bad tackle for which the Dundalk man was lucky to escape with a yellow card.

The second-half was considerably one sided with Dundalk throwing everything at the Rovers back-four.

Duggan produced saves to deny Michael Daly and Declan O'Brien as the home side, led by the probing George O'Callaghan searched desperately for an equaliser.

They thought it had arrived in the final minute but Chris Turner's volley from 25-yards dipped over Duggan's crossbar as Rovers held on to record a massive victory.

Dundalk: Bennion, Shaun Kelly, Simon Kelly, Burns, Rogers; Turner, Daly, O'Callaghan, Singh; Mulvenna (O'Brien 68), Mansaram.

Shamrock Rovers: Duggan, Tracey, Maguire, Webb, Bermingham; Bradley, Rice, Robinson, Cameron; Twigg (Purcell 64), Amond (Cahill 45).

Referee: Dave McKeon