Dundalk remain in control

Athlone Town 0 Dundalk 3

The sending off of Brian Shortall late in the first-half was a blow from which the midlanders never recovered and while they made it to half time with their net unbreached, thanks in no small part to a string of wonderful saves from Ryan Coulter, Patrick Hoban found space and crashed the ball to their net within 60 seconds of the restart to condemn the hosts to at least one more week at the bottom of the table.

When the same player showed some lovely footwork to find space in the Athlone penalty area and slip the ball underneath Ryan Coulter 10 en minutes later, the celebrations could begin in earnest for the large number of Dundalk supporters. Richie Towell added the icing on the cake for the Lilywhites in injury time with a stunning side footed volley.