Dundalk 0 Shelbourne 0:BOTH SIDES missed chances to claim all three points at Oriel Park last night.

Shels knocked the ball about brightly and created the clearest openings in the first-half. Philip Hughes was given a half-sighting of the Dundalk goal after 10 minutes but the striker could only manage to fire over from a difficult angle, before Brendan McGill looped an effort over the top after Peter Cherrie had failed to clear the ball from his penalty area with a punch.

The home side were limited to set-pieces, with Chris Shields heading over from inside the six-yard box and Robert Waters unlucky not to get on the end of a Stephen McDonnell free-kick.

Alan Mathews’s men finished the half strongly. Paddy Kavanagh drew a fine stop from Cherrie with a blistering drive from distance in the 39th minute and less than a minute later Liam Burns got a block on Hughes’ goal-bound effort.

Shels lacked the intensity of passing with which they finished the first-half but they were presented with another clear-cut chance just past the hour.

A move along the edge of the Dundalk box saw the ball fall invitingly to Conan Byrne but he could only drag his shot wide of the right hand post.

The game became more stretched as we approached the final 15 minutes. The busy Michael Rafter had a sniff of goal in the 75th minute but was denied by Skinner while at the other end Derek Foran made a great tackle to stop Hughes from pulling the trigger.

DUNDALK: Cherrie; Mountney, Burns, Foran, McLaughlin; Walsh, Shields, McDonnell, Waters (Thomas HT); McKenna (Shanahan 70), Rafter (O’Neill 76).

SHELBOURNE: Skinner; Shorthall, Paisley, Ryan, S Byrne; C Byrne (Murphy 63), Dawson, Cassidy, McGill; Hughes, Kavanagh (Hurley 81).

Referee: Rob Rogers (Dublin).