Ten-man Derry City held on for a 0-0 draw at Shelbourne to keep their title hopes alive.
A red card to defender Sam Todd 10 minutes before half-time changed the picture of the game completely, with the Candystripes the better team up until that moment.
Even a man short, Derry continued to provide a threat in the second-half and Ruaidhri Higgins’ team come out with plenty of credit given the circumstances. That is in contrast to Shelbourne, who wasted a real opportunity to put the fate of the title in their hands, testing goalkeeper Brian Maher only once in 90 minutes.
City were the first to threaten and home stopper Conor Kearns saved his team on 15 minutes. A free kick to the edge of the area saw Ciaran Coll head the ball back into the penalty area, where Pat Hoban flicked it into the path of Michael Duffy, whose well-struck volley was pushed away by the Shels custodian.
Duffy then found himself one on one with defender Sam Bone following an incisive pass from Cameron Dummigan and the winger got a yard to shoot, but blazed over from a tight angle.
Derry City’s Sam Todd was dismissed after a second yellow card
The visitors were comfortable throughout the first-half, but the game took a dramatic turn 10 minutes before the break when they were reduced to 10 men. Defender Todd, already on a yellow card, was outsmarted by Liam Burt and instinctively reached out to pull the Shelbourne man back, giving referee Damian McGraith no option other than to produce the red.
Still, Derry had a chance to take the lead just before the break when Kearns passed the ball straight to Duffy, but the winger was unable to take advantage, shooting straight at the goalkeeper under pressure from backtracking defenders.
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It took Shelbourne an hour before they managed their first shot on target, and it came in the form of a snapshot from Harry Wood, who brought a smart save from Maher from the edge of the area.
But that was the best that the home side could manage, with neither team able to produce the quality needed to make the breakthrough in what was the sixth successive draw between the sides.
Shelbourne: Kearns, Gannon, Ledwidge, Griffin, Lunney, Wood (Tulloch 73), Coyle (Caffrey 46), Martin (Smith 57), Bone, Jarvis, Burt (Coote 74).
Derry:Maher, Doherty, Connolly, Coll, Todd, Dummigan, O’Reilly, Patching, Duffy (Mullen 79), McMullan (Kelly 69), Hoban (Diallo 90).
Referee:Damian McGraith
Man of the match:Cameron Dummigan
Match rating: 5/10