Shamrock Rovers flexed their muscle off the bench to pull six-points clear at the top after scoring twice in four minutes late on to floor Derry City.
A bizarre 77th minute own goal from the unfortunate Colm Horgan set the league leaders’ recovery mission in motion before Roberto Lopes volleyed home the winner from close range.
But the dogged Candystripes refused to cave and Alan Mannus pulled off a stunning double-save to deny Ciaron Harkin and Eoin Toal deep in injury-time.
Hoops boss Stephen Bradley - whose side are now eight clear of champions Dundalk - said: “The squad is really strong and once we made our substitutions, we went to another level.
“We’re a team that believes in what we’re doing until the final whistle and we’re getting stronger all the time.”
But Derry boss Declan Devine was left scratching his head and sighed: “That’s what good teams do to you, they wait for one mistake and score twice in quick succession.
“They’re a fantastic side and we took them to the death. They got a crazy first goal but we were comfortable for long periods and it was an excellent performance.”
This game was a slow burner, with neither side capable of working the opposing goalkeeper until Walter Figueira’s fortunate opener nine minutes before the break caught the Hoops on the hop.
Before that, Rovers dominated. But Daniel Lafferty’s half chance was about the height of their disappointing return in the final third with Derry keeping their shape well.
But they lived on the edge in doing so, with midfielders Gerardo Bruna and Jack Malone both walking an early red-card tightrope after early bookings for fouls on Jack Byrne and Gary O’Neill.
Yet Derry took the lead. It was entirely against the run of play but, after a move initiated by centre-back Eoin Toal, Figueira manufactured a yard of space on the left touchline before whipping a low, quick curling ball into the box.
Hoops centre-back Lopes looked well-placed to either clear or block but was unable to connect and that caught Mannus off guard because he only committed himself once the ball zipped past his team-mate.
By that stage, the ball clipped his far post and crossed the line. Figueria, still on his original spot out wide, tried to watch the chain of events unfolding through a sea of bodies and required a thumbs up from team-mates before turning to celebrate.
Rovers needed a surge of creativity from somewhere and Bradley replaced Dylan Watts and Lafferty with Graham Burke and Neil Farrugia at half-time. And Burke’s first touch of the ball was an ambitious 30-yard drive.
“We trust the process and we trust what we do,” said Bradley. “It was nice and calm at half-time because we knew it would come right.”
The visitors did play with more urgency thereafter but Derry remained dogged and their work-rate was tremendous so Bradley reached for the reinforcements once again and pitted strikers Rory Gaffney and Dean Williams into the mix.
But Bradley said: “I wasn’t worried as we were taking the legs from them the longer the game went on, and they got deeper and deeper.”
And Williams, in particular, helped turn the tie as Rovers snatched the win in three madcap minutes. First, Williams flicked Gaffney’s cross onto the bar but it cannoned back and hit full-back Horgan in the face before landing in net.
Williams was then denied from close range. The Rovers bench were on their feet ready to celebrate only for goalkeeper Peter Cherrie to pull off a remarkable save with his feet.
But the league leaders would get their reward moments later as Lopes volleyed home a Burke cross from close range before Mannus ensured the victory with two cracking saves in quick succession to deny Harkin and Toal.
DERRY CITY: Cherrie; Horgan, Gilchrist, Toal, Coll; McCormack, Bruna (Harkin 71); Malone (Cole 83), Thomson (Hammill 83), Figueira; Akintunde (Mallon 71)
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Mannus; O’Brien (Gaffney 63), Lopes, Grace; Finn (Marshall 76), O’Neill, McEneff, Lafferty (Farrugia 45); Byrne, Greene (Williams 67), Watts (Burke 45).
Referee: D Tomney
