Tulloch Dundalk's savior as Lilywhites grab a draw in Dublin

SSE Airtricity Premier Division 

Shelbourne 1-1 Dundalk

Dundalk were last night held to a 1-1 draw by Shelbourne in the SSE Airtricity League.

Jack Moylan’s penalty had given the ten-man Dubliners the lead in the second half, but Dundalk rescued a point through Rayhaan Tulloch’s fourth goal of the campaign. 

The Lilywhites were themselves awarded a penalty inside the opening 10 minutes by Damien MacGraith, when Tulloch was brought down inside the area by Andrew Quinn.

Shane Farrell then was shown a straight red card by the Mayo official for an off-the-ball incident with Keith Ward, while Shels boss Damien Duff also got himself yellow-carded.

However, Dundalk skipper Robbie Benson, who was playing left-back, had his penalty kept out by Conor Kearns at the end of what was a frantic 60-second period in Tolka.

Dundalk’s first attempt of open play came through Archie Davies, who skinned Ardee man Kian Leavy before his curling shot from outside the box was tipped over by Kearns.

Later in the half at the opposite end, it was Leavy who get the better of Davies before his cross was put on a plate for Matty Smith, who luckily for Dundalk, got his feet tangled.

There were chances at both ends in first-half stoppage time, as Moylan got in ahead of Hayden Muller before Shepperd saved, while for Dundalk, a cross from Ward, who was getting booed by the natives at every opportunity, was turned wide by John Martin.

Early in the second half, Alfie Lewis fired wide from distance after finding himself in space, but Shels really should have taken the lead when Darragh Leahy lost possession, allowing Moylan to counter-attack before finding Smith, who again just lost his footing.

Ten-man Shels were awarded a penalty of their own in the 56th minute, when Evan Caffrey went down inside the box under the slightest of touches from Tulloch, before Moylan then stepped up to send Shepperd the wrong way and make it 1-0 to the hosts.

Patrick Hoban was introduced on the hour-mark, and flashed a header wide seconds after his introduction, while Benson crashed an effort off the post in the 75th minute before Tulloch turned inches wide on the rebound as Dundalk tried to force a leveller.

That equaliser did arrive for Stephen O’Donnell’s side on 81 minutes, when Tulloch cut inside two Shels adversaries before firing into the bottom corner from outside the area.

Dundalk had chances to win it in the closing stages with Ward blazing over, Tulloch forcing Kearns into a save, and Davies firing inches wide in stoppages, but it ended 1-1.

Shelbourne: Conor Kearns; Andrew Quinn (David Toure HT), Paddy Barrett, Luke Byrne, Shane Griffin, Shane Farrell; Evan Caffrey, JJ Lunney, Kian Leavy (Kameron Ledwidge 61); Jack Moylan (Brian McManus 85), Matty Smith

Subs not used: Scott van der Sluis (gk), Jad Hakiki, Kyle Robinson, Gbemi Arubi, Luke Browne, Lewis Temple

Dundalk FC: Nathan Shepperd; Archie Davies, Hayden Muller, Darragh Leahy, Robbie Benson; Connor Malley (Patrick Hoban 60), Alfie Lewis (Paul Doyle 79); Keith Ward, Johannes Yli-Kokko (Ryan O’Kane 51), Rayhaan Tulloch; John Martin

Subs not used: Peter Cherrie (gk), Mark Byrne (gk), Eoin Kenny, Jake Hough, Sean Bannon, Craig Moore

Referee: Damien MacGraith (Mayo)