Andy Boyle kick-started his birthday celebrations early with the winning goal as Dundalk came from behind to beat Shelbourne at Oriel Park.
Damien Duff's side had taken a 15th-minute lead through John Ross Wilson but Rayhann Tulloch cancelled it out three minutes into the second half before captain for the night Boyle popped up with a match-winning header on 69 minutes ahead of his 32nd birthday on Tuesday.
It was just the second time under Stephen O’Donnell’s management that his Dundalk side have come from behind to win a league game and it proved to be perfect timing as they built on their 5-0 win over St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday night.
Shels, who now have four points from four matches, were the better side for much of the first half and will be disappointed to have left Oriel Park empty handed but the fighting spirit of the Lilywhites proved decisive in the end.
The first chance fell the way of the home side on 12 minutes with Archie Davies breaking up the right before pulling the ball back to John Martin, who saw his effort blocked by Andrew Quinn.
After Cameron Elliott headed wide from another Davies cross, Shelbourne broke down the opposite end to take the lead with their first chance of the game on 15 minutes. Darragh Leahy failed to deal with Cameron Ledwidge’s long punt forward and Wilson was on hand to take advantage by stealing in behind the Dundalk defence before rounding Nathan Shepperd to slot home.
The Louth men were then fortunate not to find themselves two behind on 29 minutes. Wasiri Williams failed to deal with Conor Kearns' kick out, allowing Jack Moylan in on goal but Boyle got back to force a corner just when it looked that the former Wexford player was about to score. The corner was then worked to Moylan 12 yards out but his effort was blocked by Davies.
Dundalk did have a big chance to level a minute before the break when Quinn failed to deal with Leahy’s cross from the left but Tulloch could only fire straight at Kearns with the goal at his mercy.
The on-loan West Brom man would make amends for that miss by equalising within three minutes of the restart. Quinn did well to cut out a pass aimed at slipping Elliott in, but the loose ball was picked up on by Leahy whose cross was headed in at close range by Tulloch.
The 22-year-old then almost had his side ahead on 52 minutes when he was played in by Keith Ward but Kearns stayed big to prevent a fierce strike from finding the net after Tulloch had peeled away from Wilson and Quinn.
Moylan then almost restored his side's lead seven minutes later when he beat Boyle to get a shot away only to see his effort pushed away by Shepperd.
Dundalk then went close to taking the lead themselves on 68 minutes when Patrick Hoban’s acrobatic effort from a corner had to be pushed over by Kearns.
From the resulting delivery, they did find the breakthrough with Boyle rising highest to head home Connor Malley’s pinpoint delivery.
Shels pushed hard for an equaliser and thought they had it in the second of six additional minutes, but Kyle Robinson’s strike was ruled out for offside.
There was a sour note at the end as several members of the Shels bench remonstrated with those in the Dundalk technical area but it couldn’t prevent celebratory scenes from the majority of the 2,766 in attendance.
Dundalk: Nathan Shepperd; Archie Davies, Wasiri Williams, Andy Boyle; Darragh Leahy; Greg Sloggett, Keith Ward (Ryan O’Kane 60), Connor Malley (Alfie Lewis 79); John Martin (Patrick Hoban 60), Cameron Elliott, Rayhann Tulloch (Hayden Muller 86).
Shelbourne: Conor Kearns, JR Wilson, Andrew Quinn, Paddy Barrett, Cameron Ledwidge, Tyreke Wilson; Gavin Molloy, Jack Moylan (Kyle Robinson 73), Evan Caffrey (Shane Farrell 73), JJ Lunney (Brian McManus 60); Kian Leavy (Matty Smith 64).
Referee: Damien MacGraith (Mayo).
