SLIGO ROVERS stunned league leaders Shelbourne by claiming all three points at Tolka Park.
Monday’s match against fellow strugglers Drogheda United might have looked like a more realistic source of a win this Bank Holiday weekend.
But nobody told John Russell’s men with goals from Kailin Barlow and Fabrice Hartmann – either side of Sean Boyd’s equaliser – securing victory.
Before kick-off, there was more attention being paid to the directors box than the warm-ups as Ireland captain Séamus Coleman and teammates Shane Duffy, Matt Doherty, Robbie Brady and Enda Stevens arrived, along with coaches Glenn Whelan and Paddy McCarthy.
And fans of an older vintage might have recognised former players such as Chris Ramsey, Gordon Smith who were over for a get-together with their former teammate from Brighton’s 1983 FA Cup final side, Gary Howlett.
Still, the biggest draw in Irish football at the moment is Damien Duff and his annoyance in the home dugout was clear, and that was before the visitors had taken the lead.
After seeing his side squander a number of chances, he loudly complained about his players letting the opposition off the hook but worse was to follow.
Booming goal kicks are all the rage in the League of Ireland at the minute and Ed McGinty is capable of hitting it long as anyone.
His delivery saw Ellis Chapman beat Kameron Ledwidge in the air to win the knockdown.
Mark Coyle and Paddy Barrett appeared to leave it to each other which allowed Kailin Barlow to pick up the loose ball.
Barrett tracked him across the box before Barlow accelerated, stole a foot on the second centre-half Gavin Molloy before firing a shot across him and the dive of keeper Conor Kearns into the corner.
Shels should have been ahead and not behind given the chances they had created.
Evan Caffrey intercepted a clearance, played in Sean Boyd who cut inside only to be denied by McGinty. Sligo could not fully clear the danger but Caffrey fired a follow-up effort over the bar.
Later, Will Jarvis cut in on the other side and forced another good save from McGinty. The ball fell to Coyle who dribbled into the box before losing control near the byline with the ball put behind for a corner.
After those let-offs, John Russell’s side were more clinical in front of goal with their first real chance but they suffered a blow shortly after getting their noses in front.
Their 18-year-old defender Conor Reynolds had made a confident start but he dived in on Coyle who promptly skipped past him in midfield.
The teenager admirably but hopelessly limped back to try to make amends but had to go off once play had stopped, with a yellow card shown to him to boot.
His departure forced a rejig with Niall Morahan dropping into the back four, Chapman back into midfield with another 18-year-old, Owen Elding, coming on in attack.
The ease with which they held onto their lead until the break prompted Duff to change things at the break with JJ Lunney withdrawn, Caffrey dropping back to allow for the introduction of Liam Burt.
Shels did get themselves level within 12 minutes of the restart but they only held onto it for 12 minutes.
When the ball was recycled following a corner, Boyd drove infield before firing an unstoppable shot past McGinty.
The Bit O’ Red did what they had to do to stop Shels’ momentum with Ollie Denham happy to collect a booking to stop Boyd getting away.
But that was after Coyle had been booked with Fabrice Hartmann drawing a fine save from Conor Kearns who clawed it out of the top corner.
The German was clearly in the mood, though, because his angled run allowed him to spring Shels’ offside and collect Stefan Radosavljevic’s through ball before finishing past Kearns.
Shels could have fallen further behind with Elding narrowly failing to take advantage of a mix-up between Kearns and Molloy.
As you would have expected, Sligo retreated in a bid to hold onto what they had and did a reasonably good job at keeping their opponents at bay.
There were chances but McGinty did well to deny both Boyd and John Martin with Morahan clearing off the line following a corner.
SUN STAR MAN: Ed McGinty (Sligo Rovers)
SHELBOURNE: Kearns 7; Gannon 6, Barrett 5, Molloy 5, Ledwidge 5 (Martin 67, 6); Coyle 5 (Farrell 76, 5), Lunney 5 (Burt 46, 5); Caffrey 6, Smith 6 (Williams 76, 4), Jarvis 6 (Hakiki 83, 6); Boyd 7.
SLIGO ROVERS: McGinty 8; Wilson 6, Denham 7, Reynolds 6 (Elding 28, 6), Hutchinson 7; Hartmann 7 (Waweru 78, 4), Malley 6, Morahan 7, Radosavljevic 6 (McDonagh 89, 4); Chapman 7, Barlow 7 (McAteer 89, 3).
REFEREE: P Norton (Dublin) 6