Dylan Watts' 58th minute strike helped Shamrock Rovers see off already relegated Dundalk at Oriel Park to ensure the League of Ireland title race will go down to the wire next weekend.
The Hoops knew travelling to the Co Louth venue that they needed a win to keep the pressure on Shelbourne going into the final day when Damien Duff’s side are away to Derry City, with five in-a-row chasing Rovers at home to Waterford FC in Tallaght Stadium.
Oriel Park hasn’t been a happy hunting ground of Stephen Bradley’s side in recent years with just two wins and seven defeats in their last 10 visits prior to this.
However, having soaked up plenty of pressure from the hosts in the first half, Rovers eventually got the job done with a second big goal from Watts in the space of nine days after he had also scored an 84th minute winner in his side’s 1-0 win away to Drogheda Utd last Friday week.
While it was the visitors who needed the win, their only effort of the opening half came on 12 minutes when Watts fired well over from range as he attempted to catch Ross Munro off his line following a scuffed clearance from the Scottish goalkeeper.
There were more nervous moments at the other end with one of them coming on the quarter hour mark when the ball dropped for John Mountney in the box, whose shot was deflected wide.
From the resulting corner, Daryl Horgan’s delivery was kept alive by Mountney with Jad Hakiki, who was a Shels player up until a few months ago, crashing a volley off the underside of the crossbar. Eoin Kenny also had a bite at the cherry in the follow up but saw his effort blocked.
Mountney would head wide from another Horgan corner late in the half before the hosts threatened an upset again in the third minute of stoppage time when
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League of Ireland
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Shamrock Rovers
Stephen Bradley
Damien Duff
Dylan Watts