Ten men Dundalk held on for a huge win over Shamrock Rovers to add to the Hoops' miserable week by dumping them out of the FAI Cup at the first hurdle.
Hayden Muller’s 23rd minute goal put Stephen O’Donnell’s side in the driving seat but they were forced to hang on, a man light, for well over an hour following Paul Doyle’s dismissal just after the half hour mark.
The result means that 25-time winners Rovers are out of the Cup at the first round stage for the first time since also losing 1-0 in Co Louth to Drogheda Utd in 2018.
It caps a poor week for Stephen Bradley following his side's Champions League qualifier defeat to Icelandic side Breidablik on Tuesday.
The Lilywhites, who booked a Europa Conference League second qualifying round tie with KA having beaten Bruno’s Magpies less than 72 hours earlier, were full value for their win.
A brilliant defensive display was key as they made light of absence of Louie Annesley and Patrick Hoban, who scored the goals when they beat Rovers 2-0 in the league at the end of June.
Both sides had chances in the opening stages with Graham Burke firing well over with the game's first attempt on six minutes before Johannes Yli-Kokko curled a left foot shot just wide at the other end after beating Gary O’Neill three minutes later.
Dylan Watts then fired straight at Nathan Shepperd before Johnny Kenny, introduced following an early injury to Rory Gaffney, missed an absolute sitter on 18 minutes.
The Celtic loanee raced onto Burke’s flick on to lift the ball over the advancing Shepperd. While his initial effort came back off the crossbar, a goal looked a formality but somehow he headed the follow up over the bar with the goal at his mercy from four yards out.
That miss was to prove crucial as Dundalk hit the front five minutes later. Robbie McCourt had been denied by the legs of Alan Mannus after driving into the box moments earlier, Ryan O’Kane’s corner fell to the feet of Muller, who showed great composure to create space for himself before firing to the bottom right hand corner for his first senior career goal.
Kenny had a big chance to level matters four minutes later after being slipped in by Burke again but this time he was denied by the advancing Shepperd.
The game then swung back in Rovers’ favour on 31 minutes when Dundalk were reduced to 10 men following a second booking for Paul Doyle for a needless pull back on Aaron Greene deep inside the opposition half.
Despite their numerical advantage, Rovers were unable to make it count before the break with Kenny having two further efforts off target either side of a Burke attempt that was tamely at Shepperd.
The visitors then had two big chances within 20 seconds of the restart as Kenny was denied by Shepperd after breaking in on the left with Burke's follow up headed off the line by Darragh Leahy.
Shepperd then made a magnificent save on 55 minutes to touch Lee Grace’s header over the bar after Sean Hoare’s initial effort from a corner had come off the butt of the post.
The Welsh keeper then denied Watts moments later but they struggled for chances for a long period after that with their next effort of note not arriving until the 78th minute when Burke headed wide from a Liam Burt cross - something he repeated moments later.
Grace then got up to meet Watts’ corner on 84 minutes but his effort was straight at Shepperd.
Burt then sliced an effort wide with a minute to go before Watts drilled another effort off target in the second minute of the seven added.
Watts would find the target two minutes later but again it was straight at Shepperd as Dundalk held on for a huge win.
Dundalk: Nathan Shepperd; Hayden Muller, Andy Boyle, Darragh Leahy; Archie Davies, Johannes Yli-Kokko (Connor Malley 85), Alfie Lewis (Greg Sloggett 64), Paul Doyle, Robbie McCourt (Darren Brownlie 85); Ryan O’Kane (Cameron Elliott 85), John Martin (Daniel Kelly 72).
Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus; Daniel Cleary, Roberto Lopes, Lee Grace; Sean Hoare (Liam Burt 66), Dylan Watts, Graham Burke, Gary O’Neill (Najemedine Razi 80), Sean Kavanagh (Richie Towell 80); Rory Gaffney (Johnny Kenny 5), Aaron Greene.
Referee: Rob Harvey (Dublin).
