Ali Coote and Sean Boyd were the goalscorers as Joey O’Brien’s side moved to within three points of Drogheda United in fourth.

A bad night for Rovers was made worse with six minutes to go when goalkeeper Sam Sargeant was sent off as he was judged to have handled the ball outside the box by referee Rob Harvey, although replays suggest it may have been on the line.

Unbeaten in their last five league games, the Bit O’Red were one of the league’s form sides coming into this tie.

A win against the 2024 Premier Division champions would have brought Russell’s men level on points with Galway United who were beaten on Friday by the league’s bottom side Cork City.

Russell lost both Jake Doyle-Hayes and Francely Lomboto this week, with both players departing the club, while Ciaron Harkin joined from Derry City and was named on the bench for this game.

Shels, who had a gruelling trip home from Kazakhstan mid-week where they were in European action, named Milan Mbeng in the starting 11 after the French man signed from Cork City.

Cian Kavanagh’s miss on ten minutes was the talking point in an otherwise uneventful first-half, with neither side bringing the entertainment that may have been expected.

The former St Patrick’s Athletic striker just needed a slight touch to divert the ball past Speel in the Shels goals after Will Fitzgerald’s free-kick was knocked on in the direction of Kavanagh in front of goal.

That was as close as either side would come to opening the scoring in the first-half, but Shels found the net two minutes into the second-half.

Coote gained possession in the middle and pushed his way past a couple of Rovers players before driving the ball into the top corner of Sam Sargeant’s goal

Paddy McClean almost had Rovers back on level terms but the Derry man couldn’t keep his header down from Owen Elding’s cross as Rovers battled hard to find an equaliser.

As the home side failed to clear the ball from their defence, John Martin picked out the free Boyd in front of goal, and all he needed to do was poke it in past Sargeant for 2-0.

There was further controversy, though, as the home side were reduced to ten when referee Rob Harvey gave Sargeant a straight red card for handling the ball outside the box, but replays show that Sargeant looked to be on the line as he handled the ball.

That result leaves Rovers in ninth place, three points off Galway in eighth, while Shels are just three points off Drogheda United who occupy fourth spot.

Sligo Rovers: Sam Sargeant, Conor Reynolds (Wilson Waweru, 67), Paddy McClean, Ollie Denham, Kyle McDonagh (John Mahon, 67), James McManus, Seb Quirk, Jad Hakiki, Owen Elding, Cian Kavanagh (Conor Walsh, 85), Will Fitzgerald

Shelbourne: Wessel Speel, Milan Mbeng (Sean Gannon, 68), Lewis Temple, Paddy Barrett, Kameron Ledwidge, Kerr McInroy, JJ Lunney, James Norris (Sean Moore, 82), Ali Coote (John Martin, 68), Harry Wood (Ellis Chapman, 82), Mipo Odubeko (Sean Boyd, 59)

Referee: Rob Harvey

Attendance: 3,167

Report courtasy of RTÉ