Sligo Rovers 0 - 1 Dundalk

Dundalk have left a dent in Sligo Rovers title defence after beating the champions 1-0 in The Showgrounds on Tuesday night.

A 41st minute wonderstrike from Dane Massey was the difference as The Lilywhites continued their impressive away form with a deserved victory over The Bit O'Red.

Aaron Greene fashioned the first opportunity of the night as he slipped Anthony Elding through, but he couldn't beat Peter Cherrie to give his side a lead inside the opening ten minutes.

A one-two between Pat Hoban and John Mountney after 12 minutes almost forced the breakthrough for the visitors when Hoban shot narrowly wide from 20 yards.

A brilliant move involving Ross Gaynor, Joseph Ndo and Aaron Greene almost resulted in a goal for the latter as his cross from the left bounced off the top of the crossbar.

Dundalk were proving to be more than a match for their opponents and they were not far away from opening the scoring with an audacious effort when Keith Ward's looping shot also bounced off the top of the crossbar and out of play.

A deserved goal finally came for the Lilywhites after 41 minutes when a superb strike from distance by Dane Massey appeared to deceive Gary Rogers as he was beaten at his near post.

Gaynor brought a great save out of Cherrie on the stroke of half-time when he got down low to knock the left-back's shot out for a corner which came to nothing.

John Mountney was posing a major threat all night and The Bit O'Red will consider themselves lucky that he failed to double his side's lead early in the second half when his shot in a one-on-one with Gary Rogers trickled narrowly wide.

With the 20 minutes remaining, the champions chances of getting back into the game were dented when Anthony Elding was shown a straight red card following an off the ball incident with Dane Massey.

Dundalk were handed a glorious opportunity to double their lead with 13 minutes remaining when Gary Rogers took Mountney down in the box. Pat Hoban stepped up but rifled it off the crossbar before Rogers made a stunning save from a long range Stephen O'Donnell attempt.

Sligo Rovers pushed for a late goal, but they simply could not break down a stubborn Dundalk defence who left The Showgrounds with a valuable three points.

Sligo Rovers: Gary Rogers; Alan Keane, Jeff Henderson, Gavin Peers, Ross Gaynor (Iarfhlaith Davoren, '79(; Raffaele Cretaro (Pascal Millien, '82), Danny Ventre (Kieran Djilali, '59), David Cawley, Joseph Ndo, Aaron Greene; Anthony Elding.

Subs not used: Ciaran Kelly, Seamus Conneely, Ryan Connolly, Liam Martin.

Bookings: Gavin Peers, Danny Ventre, David Cawley, Gary Rogers.

Sendings off: Anthony Elding

Dundalk: Peter Cherrie; John Sullivan, Andy Boyle, Mark Rossiter, Dane Massey; John Mountney, Richie Towell, Darren Meenan (Tiarnan Mulvenna, '79), Stephen O'Donnell, Keith Ward; Pat Hoban.

Subs not used: Aaron Shanahan, Eoghan Osbourne, Stephen McDonnell, Darren Meenan, Vinny Faherty.

Bookings: Stephen O'Donnell, Richie Towell

Sendings off: Stephen O'Donnell.

Referee: Paul McLaughlin.

Attendance: 1,824.

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: John Mountney (Dundalk).