Shelbourne 1 Derry City 1
Ten-man Derry City slipped down to third in the Premier Division table after playing out a draw with Shelbourne at Tolka Park.
While Shels – who had Joey O’Brien patrolling the dugout in the absence of suspended boss Damien Duff – threatened early on through Jack Moylan, their netminder Conor Kearns was called into action on a number of occasions to ensure the deadlock remained unbroken at the interval.
Kearns and his opposite number Brian Maher pulled off some fine stops on the restart, before the latter ultimately picked the ball out of the back of the Derry net on 57 minutes. Introduced for Shane Farrell at half-time, Seán Boyd’s diving header off an Evan Caffrey set-piece delivery nestled into the bottom right-hand corner.
Although the Dubliners grew in confidence as a consequence of this opener, Derry restored parity in superb style when Ben Doherty unleashed an unstoppable strike to the top left-hand corner in the 71st-minute.
The Candystripes subsequently lost Adam O’Reilly to a red card just shy of the 80-minute mark and despite letting slip of second spot in the top-flight standings, a sharing of the spoils in Drumcondra keeps Ruaidhrí Higgins’s charges within six points of pacesetters Shamrock Rovers.
SHELBOURNE: Kearns; Quinn, Molloy, Griffin (Barrett, 22); JR Wilson, Lunney, Coyle (Hakiki, 83), Caffrey, T Wilson (Ledwidge, 68); Farrell (Boyd, 46), Moylan.
DERRY CITY: Maher; Boyce, S McEleney, McJannet, Doherty; Dummigan (Connolly), Diallo; McEneff (C Kavanagh), O’Reilly, B Kavanagh; McGonigle (Coll).
Referee: R Harvey (Dublin).