Shelbourne extended their lead at the top of the eircom League Premier Division with a 2-0 win away to Longford Town while their closest rivals, before tonight's fixtures, Waterford United lost 1-0 to St Pats at the RSC.
The league champions now lead their Munster rivals by six points after a first half strike from Ger Rowe and then a Glen Fitzpatrick effort on the stroke of full-time secured the points at Flancare Park.
Waterford suffered their fourth league defeat of the season when a Aidan O'Keefe strike from a tight angle five minutes into the second half gave St Patrick's Athletic a much needed boost with their fourth win of the campaign.
Indeed, it is Cork City who actually leapfrog Waterford into second spot on the back of their 2-1 win over Derry at Turnerss Cross. But it was far from plain sailing for Pat Dolan's men who trail Shelbourne by six points.
Derry, struggling at the wrong end of the table, went ahead on 59 minutes through Alan Murphy and looked to have secured the victory. But, cruelly, two goals in the closing five minutes from the home side through Denis Behan and Liam Kearney turned the game on its head and condemned the visitors to their ninth defeat.
Bottom of the table Dublin City were also denied a win when Drogheda United's Andy Myler scored in the 95th minute to cancel out Gary O'Neill's 60th minute strike at Tolka Park.
Results
Cork City 2-1 Derry City
Dublin City 1-1 Drogheda United
Longford Town 0-2 Shelbourne
Waterford United 0-1 St Patrick's Athletic