Jamie McGrath helped himself to a hat-trick as Dundalk got back to winning ways against Sligo Rovers at Oriel Park.
A forgettable first half ended scoreless but the champions came out for the second-half looking more like themselves.
McGrath broke the deadlock in the 52nd minute with a good finish and he doubled his tally with an even better strike 20 minutes later.
Niclas Vemmelund made it 3-0 before McGrath put an end to Dundalk’s run of two straight defeats with a stoppage time penalty.
Those losses to Galway United and Shamrock Rovers left Stephen Kenny’s men third, one point behind second placed Bray Wanderers and 15 points adrift of leaders Cork City before kick-off.
However, the gap has been reduced to 13 after the Leesiders’ draw in Galway.
Robbie Benson was named in the Dundalk starting line-up for the first time since tearing a hamstring against Cork at Turner’s Cross on March 25th.
He came in for Stephen O’Donnell who was named on the bench after going off with a head injury in the defeat to Shamrock Rovers a week earlier.
Elsewhere, Chris Shields replaced Conor Clifford and Jamie McGrath got the nod ahead of John Mountney as Stephen Kenny rang the changes.
For Sligo, it was very much a case of as you are with manager Gerard Lyttle naming the same team that beat Limerick 3-0 in his first game in charge. Raffaele Cretaro played behind Jonah Ayunga with the in-form Kieran Sadlier deployed on the right flank.
Benson was frequently involved as Dundalk tried to start at a high tempo but it took 19 minutes for Micheal Schlingermann to make his first save, gathering easily from David McMillan after neat approach play involving Patrick McEleney.
Benson pulled an effort wide of the mark in the opening stages of the second half as Dundalk injected some urgency into their play and they almost pulled in front in the 50th minute when Shields’ cross fell kindly for McGrath but Kyle Callan McFadden was in the right place to block his effort.
Schlingermann got down well to gather a Shields curler shortly after but the goalkeeper was helpless to stop McGrath from shooting through his legs in the 53rd minute after the Meathman got the better of Tobi Adebayo Rowling on the edge of the penalty area.
The goal injected some much needed confidence into the champions and they looked a lot more creative going forward with Duffy hooking another good opportunity over the top.
The insurance goal arrived with 18 minutes to go. Duffy was the creator, turning on the accelerator to burst down the right before slowing up and picking out McGrath who rifled his effort under Schlingermann.
McEleney thought he had made it 3-0 when he lifted a Benson pass over the advancing goalkeeper four minutes later but Regan Donelan appeared to hack the ball away before it could cross the line.
Niclas Vemmelund did grab the third when he bundled the ball home late on and McGrath put the cap on a fine display when he converted a penalty in stoppage time.
Dundalk: Gary Rogers; Niclas Vemmelund, Sean Hoare, Paddy Barrett, Dane Massey; Chris Shields, Robbie Benson (Thomas Stewart 88); Michael Duffy, Patrick McEleney (Stephen O’Donnell 84), Jamie McGrath; David McMillan (Ciaran Kilduff 79).
Sligo Rovers: Michael Schlingermann; Tobi Adebayo Rowling, Michael Leahy, Kyle Callan McFadden, Regan Donelan; Kieran Sadlier, John Russell (Matthew Stevens 78), Gary Boylan, Liam Martin (Michael Place 85); Raffaele Cretaro, Jonah Ayunga (Craig Roddan 59).
Referee: Graham Kelly.
