Finn Harps climbed out of the bottom three with a 2-0 win in Limerick, despite playing the entire second half with ten men.

Both sides made a pair of changes - with the hosts notably reintroducing captain Shane Duggan who was dropped. Barry Cotter also returned from illness. They took the places of Dean Clarke and Stephen Kenny.

Ollie Horgan welcomed the return of Eddie Dsane from suspension, as well as Sean Houston – who was rested in these sides’ meeting last Saturday.

These sides met only six days ago, but this game was a far livelier affair. Harps sat deep and tried to pick Limerick off on the break.

It was effective to a point, as only a Peter Berki shot that was cleared off the line troubled the visitors in the first half an hour.

Ten minutes later, Harps took a surprise lead. Some clever footwork from Paddy McCourt found Eddie Dsane breaking down the right. He beat Joe Crowe for pace before blasting an effort goalwards.

Brendan Clarke managed to save the initial effort, but Tommy McBride followed in to blast into the roof of the net.

Harps had something to hold onto, but almost pressed the self-destruct button immediately.

Sitting back to try and preserve their lead until half time, Harps were undone by a brilliant piece of improvisation from Tony Whitehead.

The young centre half carried the ball into the Harps half before rocketing a pass into the feet of Peter Berki.

The Hungarian forward was hauled down by Killian Cantwell and Tomas Connolly rushed over to issue him with a straight red card.

Rodrigo Tosi had netted eleven times this year – including three from the spot. However, the post would deny him in the last action of the opening half.

Ollie Horgan was shown red himself at half time for an altercation, but it only gave him a better vantage point as his side strolled to a big win.

A defensive mix-up from Limerick twenty minutes from time handed Danny Morrissey a chance to seal the win – tapping home from five yards.

Limerick: Brendan Clarke; Barry Cotter (Henry Cameron, 49), Tony Whitehead, Joe Crowe, Dave O’Connor; Lee-J Lynch, Bastien Hery, Shane Duggan, Chiedozie Ogbene; Peter Berki (Stephen Kenny, 49), Rodrigo Tosi (John O’Flynn, 73).

Finn Harps: Ciaran Gallagher; Ethan Boyle, Damien McNulty, Killian Cantwell, Ciaran Coll; Paddy McCourt (Jonny Bonnar, 82), Tommy McBride; Mark Timlin, Sean Houston, Eddie Dsane (Shane Blaney, 88); Ibrahim Keita (Danny Morrissey, 49).

Referee: Tomas Connolly (Dublin)