Shane Keegan saluted Dundak’s “mad” goalkeeper Alessio Abibi after he won the President’s Cup in a shootout.
The former Albanian underage international thwarted Pico Lopes in sudden death at Tallaght Stadium.
He also kept out a Rory Gaffney effort while Graham Burke blazed over the bar for the Hoops with Greg Sloggett and Andy Boyle off target for the Lilywhites.
This was only Dundalk’s third preseason game since beating Rovers in last season’s FAI Cup final.
And Keegan hopes it is a psychological boost for the Oriel Park outfit ahead of their league meeting with Rovers in three weeks.
Dundalk team manager Keegan said: “Alessio is mad for sure but shot-stopping is his forte.
“We did huge homework on their penalties and we tried to communicate that to him during the shootout.”
Keegan questioned if Sonni Nattestad sending off merited a red card but said he needed a second look at the incident that led to a melee.
“What I will say is it was a trojan effort from us when we went down to 10 men.”
Hoops boss Stephen Bradley felt the better side lost and won’t be losing too much sleep over the shootout defeat.
He said: “We controlled the game but we just needed to be better in the final third as we passed up some chances.
“It was a competitive game but we knew it would be.”
And Bradley also praised Ireland Under-21 defender Liam Scales for his sublime goal that pulled the Hoops level early in the second-half.
Bradley said: “If I knew he could do that he would be playing as a centre-forward!
“No, that was Liam’s first time playing on the left like that for us, but he used to be a left-winger when he was younger so he knows the role.”
