Sporting Fingal captain Shaun Williams scored for the second game in-a-row to beat 10-man Dundalk and send his side up to third in the table.

The midfielder popped up in the penalty area on 52 minutes to meet Ollie Cahill's inswinging free-kick and plant a diving header past Lilywhites goalkeeper Peter Cherrie.

Any chance Dundalk had of mounting a late attempt to end their eight-match winless run vanished when midfielder Tom Miller was sent off with eight minutes left for picking up his second booking of the second half.

Dundalk boss Ian Foster named an unchanged side to the one that drew 1-1 against UCD last week while his counterpart Liam Buckley drafted in Shaun Maher and John Frost replaced the injured pair Shane McFaul and Lorcan Fitzgerald.

The first half was a tense affair with each side guilty of wasteful passing.

Dundalk's Fahrudin Kuduzovic curled a 30-yarder over the crossbar on two minutes but it was Fingal who pressed thereafter.

Kenny Browne should have done better with his header from Conan Byrne's corner 18 minutes when he nodded over and Finn dragged an effort wide five minutes later.

Dundalk defender Wayne Hatswell showed his long-range shooting prowess with a 30-yard free kick on the half hour which Darren Quigley tipped over.

The Lilywhites fashioned the best chance in the last minute of the half when Tom Miller crossed for the unmarked Matthew Tipton who volleyed wide from eight yards.

That miss would be rued by the visitors as they fell behind shortly after the break. A foul by Shaun Kelly on Ger O'Brien near the left touchline allowed Ollie Cahill the chance to float in a free and there on cue to steer it home was man-of-the-match Williams.

The ex-Dundalk man had also netted in Tuesday's FAI Ford Cup third round replay win at Mervue United and his goal would condemn his former club to their third straight league defeat against the Ravens in the campaign.

Ciaran McGuigan followed his fellow defender Hatswell's example on 64 minutes by trying his luck with a free and it almost caught out Quigley only for the 'keeper to bat away the spinning shot.

Miller, booked 11 minutes earlier in the half for a late challenge, gave Referee Richie Winter no option but to issue a red card on 82 minutes when he scythed down Byrne in the centre-circle.