Sligo Rovers 1-2 Dundalk
A contentious penalty decision was the difference between Dundalk and Sligo Rovers as the SSE Airtricity League champions came away from the Showgrounds with a 2-1 win.
Morten Nielsen sent the home side into the lead early on but a Danny Ledwith own goal levelled the game just passed the half hour mark.
The game was decided in 56th minute when referee Paul McLaughlin adjudged Alan Keane to have handled the ball inside the penalty area before Richie Towell slotted home from 12 yards for the Louth side's 13th win of the season.
Andrew Boyle had to be alert to clear Sander Puri's effort off the Dundalk goal line after just three minutes after the Estonian international did well to dodge the challenge of two Lillywhite defenders before neatly chipping the ball beyond the reach of Gary Rogers.
The former Shelbourne defender acrobatically whipping the ball away from danger.
Sligo - who were led on the night by interim manager Joseph Ndo - started with purpose and made their early pressure count on eight minutes when they took the lead.
Striding forward from a deep position, Nielsen found space 20 yards from goal before unleashing a low drive, which bamboozled former Sligo netminder Rogers and deflected into the corner of the Dundalk net for the Dane's first league goal of the season.
Daryl Horgan sent his close range free narrowly wide of Richard Brush's goal on 18, while Boyle wastefully skied his shot from the edge of the Rovers area six minutes later.
Towell repeated the trick just shy of the half hour mark as Sligo continued to force the league leaders into long-range efforts.
Brush placed himself under unnecessary pressure mid-way through the half when his mis-hit clearance fell at the feet of Horgan.
But the Sligo goalkeeper did just enough to push the winger's attempted lob over his crossbar.
Stephen Kenny's side always posed a threat and sustained pressure from the away side eventually told on 33 minutes as the Oriel Park outfit levelled the tie.
Horgan's drilled cross from the left was mis-controlled by Ledwith before the ball squeezed between Brush and his front post for the equaliser.
The teams going in at the break at a goal a piece.
Another Brush mis-kick offered Horgan a shot on goal but the Birmingham native did enough to make up for his error as he smothered Horgan's shot seven minutes into the second half.
Kenny's troops captured the lead 11 minutes after the break.
Referee Paul McLaughlin adjudged Keane to have handled Dane Massey's cross inside the Rovers area although the ball seemed to have come off the Sligo defender's face.
Towell stepped up and promptly sent Brush left as he slotted right for his 12th goal of the season.
Brush did well to sweep the ball from the feet of Towell on 77 after Dundalk substitute Kurtis Byrne dispossessed Keane before teeing up the dominative midfielder.
The visitors were the more imposing team late on although both sides struggled to create any meaningful opportunities.
Sligo Rovers: Richard Brush; Alan Keane, Gavin Peers, Stephen Folan, Danny Ledwith; Sander Puri, David Cawley, Eoin Wearen (for Keith Ward 67), Gary Armstrong; Morten Nielsen (for Kevin Devaney HT), Dinny Corcoran (for Raffaele Cretaro 62).
Subs not used: Ryan Coulter, Jake Dykes, Gary Boylan, Ryan McManus.
Dundalk: Gary Rogers; Sean Gannon, Brian Gartland, Andy Boyle. Dane Massey; John Mountney (for Darren Meenan 45), Chris Shields, Richie Towell, Ronan Finn (for Stephen O'Donnell 72), Daryl Horgan, David McMillan (for Kurtis Byrne 76).
Subs not used: Gabriel Sava, Shane Grimes, Jake Kelly, Ciaran O'Connor.
Referee: Paul McLaughlin.
