Dundalk kept their unbeaten record intact after claiming a draw against ten-man Sporting Fingal at Morton Stadium and remain joint-top of the eircom First Division table alongside Waterford United.
The hosts were rocked by the dismissal of Robbie Doyle after 33 minutes for a second bookable offence but took control and grabbed a deserved lead through Aidan Collins' 50th minute header.
The defender rose unchallenged eight yards out to nod home a cross by Dave Rogers after Dundalk failed to clear a corner from Paul Caffrey.
Lilywhites' goalkeeper Aaron Shanahan denied Conan Byrne with a terrific stop on the hour mark when the winger latched onto a through ball from Peter Hynes and struck a shot from ten yards.
Dundalk were short of ideas in attack and it was left to captain David Crawley to salvage a point by curling a delightful 25-yard free kick high into the net past the stranded Steve Williams in the hosts' goal with 13 minutes left.
Tiernan Mulvenna almost snatched what would have a lucky three points for Dundalk with an injury-time header which angled wide.
Sporting Fingal: Williams, Tyrell, Kelly, Rogers, Collins, Gannon (McArdle 90), C. Byrne, James, Hynes (Corcoran 90+1), P. Caffrey, Doyle.
Dundalk: Shanahan, Flanagan (Farrell 66), Grimes, Crawley, Ryan, Marney (Cassidy 53), Duffy, Crowley, Vaughan (Mulvenna 74), Martin, O'Connor
