Byrne's brace moves Shels clear

Shelbourne 3 Sligo Rovers 0

A Jason Byrne brace for the second match in succession moved scintillating Shelbourne four points clear at the top of the Premier Division table.

Ollie Cahill ended a flowing move involving Stuart Byrne and Glen Crowe to curl a delightful shot into the corner of the net to give Shels a seventh minute lead.

But an incident five minutes into the second half ended any hope of Sligo getting back into the match. Liam Burns was harshly shown a straight red card for an apparent trip on Jason Byrne.

Byrne inflicted further damage when driving the resulting free kick thorugh the wall and into the roof of the net. Five minutes later Byrne wrapped up the points when drilling home his 13th goal of the season after Crowe cushioned Dave Rogers’ cross into his path.