Although Dundalk have yet to record their first win of the season, they achieved a much better result than they could have hoped for coming up to half-time at Oriel Park last night.
The point they won was thanks to an excellent strike by David Hoey early in the second half.
A Derry combination of Michael McHugh, Liam Coyle and Peter Hutton took the Dundalk defence apart in the early stages. McHugh was in particularly brilliant form and with a bit more luck could have scored a hat-trick.
Derry took a deserved lead after 15 minutes when McHugh put Coyle through to score. Two minutes later McHugh left the Dundalk defence flat footed as he made scoring look easy.
Dundalk got back into the game with a goal, in injury time of the first half, by Peter Whithnell with a header from a free by Dave Campbell.
Campbell led the Dundalk revival at the start of the second half, but it was a stunning shot from David Hoey that caught the Derry keeper David Platt completely unawares.
Dundalk: Williams, McNulty, Ward, Doohan, Brady, Melvin, Campbell, Doohan, Hoey, Whithnell and Thew. Sub: Reddish for McNulty 75 mins.
Derry City: Platt, McCallium, Kelly, Gauld, Curran, Hutton, Hargen, Hegarty, Coyle, Becket, McHugh. Sub: R Coyle for Becket 81 mins.
Referee: P McKeown (Dublin).
