Hayden Muller's delight as Dundalk knock Shamrock Rovers out of Cup

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