Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick's Athletic kept up the pressure on Dundalk and Cork City at the top of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division as both recorded wins in the weekend's fixtures.
For Rovers, it was more a case of being satisfied with the result rather than the performance as they claimed a 1-0 win over Drogheda United at the Tallaght Stadium.
Mikey Drennan tapped home the only goal of the game in the 19th minute from Brandon Miele's low curling cross to the back post, but despite Rovers always looking the better side, they failed to impose their authority over Drogheda, who have now lost seven games out of their last nine.
Meanwhile St Patrick’s Athletic were in much more impressive form as they ran out comfortable 4-1 winners over Galway United at Eamonn Deacy Park.
Killian Brennan opened the scoring for Saints from the penalty spot after Aaron Greene's shot was handled by United defender Stephen Walsh, and Conan Byrne added a second six minutes before half time with a fine finish following good link up play from Brennan and Chris Forrester.
Galway gave themselves a chance with a cracking 30 yard strike from David O’Leary just after half time, but Saints restored their two goal lead midway through the second half when Ciaran Kilduff produced a delightful lob.
Eleven minutes from time they wrapped up a convincing display when Chris Forrester set up Conan Byrne who curled home his second goal of the evening.
At the City Calling Stadium, Derry City were unable to take advantage of playing against 10 men for more than an hour, and the game against Longford Town eventually ended goalless. A straight red card for Longford's Conor Powell on 21 minutes, and a shot from Derry's Mark Timlin that was pushed on to the crossbar were the main talking points.
Sligo Rovers were denied a much needed home win when an equaliser from Limerick's Paul O'Conor in stoppage time earned them a draw at the Showgrounds.
The Bit O'Red went ahead on 26 minutes as Kevin Devaney and Sander Puri combined to set up Dinny Corcoran for the opener, and they appeared to be set to collect all three points until the fourth minute of stoppage time when O'Connor - ironically a former Sligo player - headed the equaliser from a free kick.
Finn Harps remain top of the First Division, but they were denied a fourth successive league win by a late equaliser from Cabinteely's John McKeown.
Unbeaten Harps had led since the 13th minute at Stradbrook through a Ruairi Keating header, but McKeown earned the home side a point with a strike deep into stoppage time.
Harps' lead at the top is now reduced to three points after second placed Wexford Youths recorded an impressive 4-1 win at Waterford United, Danny Furlong adding another two goals to his tally for the season after scoring five against Cabinteely last week.
Shelbourne's winless run was extended to six games after they slumped to a 2-0 defeat at home to UCD in the Dublin derby- Chris Mulhall and Jack Watson on target for the students.
UCD are now level on points with Athlone Town in third place, who lost 1-0 to a Jonathan Creamer goal at improving Cobh Ramblers.
Results:
Premier Division: Galway United 1 St Patrick's Athletic 4; Longford Town 0 Derry City 0; Shamrock Rovers 1 Drogheda United 0; Sligo Rovers 1 Limerick 1.
First Division: Cabinteely 1 Finn Harps 1; Cobh Ramblers 1 Athlone Town 0; Shelbourne 0 UCD 2; Waterford United 1 Wexford Youths 4.
