Tony Izzi was the delighted Dundalk matchwinner on his return to former club Cobh Ramblers with a brace of goals in a 3-0 win yesterday.
Izzi crowned his afternoon with a delightful goal five minutes from time to consolidate their fourth place in the table.
Third placed Kilkenny City also made up ground on the leaders thanks to a stunning 85th-minute goal from Jonathan Prizeman which gave them a 1-0 win over St Francis at Buckley Park on Saturday night.
Longford Town missed an opportunity to stretch their lead at the top when losing 3-2 at Home Farm/Fingal.
Robbie Farrell scored his 13th and 14th goals of the season, the second a penalty, to put Home Farm surprisingly in command after 37 minutes.
Fellow striker, Richard Foran, whom Bohemians are keen to sign before today's deadline, made it 3-0 four minutes later.
Monaghan United continued their revival under Bobby Browne to make it a hat-trick of excellent wins when trouncing bottom of the table Limerick FC 5-2 at Gortakeegan.
