Shelbourne - 2 Sligo Rovers - 3 Four days after Galway dumped holders Derry City out of this year's FAI Cup, the competition produced another piece of magic last night at Tolka Park

A Steve Feeney header from Gareth Gorman's free-kick close to the end of the first period of extra-time gave Don O'Riordan's Sligo side victory in an enthralling third round tie, and earned them a home in the quarter-finals with his former side Galway United.

The visitors led 2-0 at one stage but squandered the advantage despite a hugely energetic attempt to keep the home side at bay when Jason Byrne forced the game into extra-time just seconds from the end of a memorable contest. Shelbourne simply couldn't complete the fight back, though, and Feeney's goal gave the first division outfit a deserved win.

The opening half alone of this game contained sufficient fireworks to brighten up a handful of cup ties, with Rovers initially surviving a couple of clear-cut Shelbourne chances, to lead thanks to spectacular goals from Ollie Keogh and John Gaffney.

On the quarter-hour Keogh opened the scoring with a wonderful long-range lob that sailed over Steve Williams from just five yards short of the half-way line. The Dubliners looked rattled but might have pulled level just short of the half hour when Dave Rogers drove a close range shot towards the bottom right corner only to see it deflected wide by Stephen Geoghegan.

Five minutes later, however, O'Riordan's side doubled their lead with a goal every bit as good as their first. Keogh sent in a corner from the left that was cleared to well beyond the box, from where John Gaffney met the falling ball with a blistering first-time strike that tore through the crowded area, past Williams and into the back of the net.

Under the main stand the Rovers bench spilled out onto the pitch in a display of celebration that may have been contained just a hint of disbelief. A few feet away Fenlon and the rest of the Shelbourne management certainly must have found it all a little difficult to take in.

Things went from bad to worse for the locals within a minute when Rogers, already on a booking from the ninth minute for a foul on Raffael Cretaro, kicked the ball away after conceding a free and was dismissed by referee Dave McKeon.

Two up against 10 men, Rovers must have been favourites to hold on but the sort of frailties that Shelbourne would have expected to exploit in the first place re-emerged before the break when all four of the visiting defenders stood off Ollie Cahill as the winger pulled inside from the left and took as much time as he could have wanted to line up a low shot that skipped past Ciaran Kelly and into the bottom right corner from the edge of the area.

At half-time the theme music from The Sting was one of the tunes played, a sign perhaps that the home club's officials reckoned they were being taken for a ride by a side whose passion and commitment shouldn't have been enough to bridge the gulf in class between the sides.

During the thoroughly absorbing 45 minutes that followed, however, Rovers held out in the face of almost relentless pressure from Shelbourne, who were limited to only a couple of real scoring chances. And Rovers should have completed their version of the three-card shuffle a minute from the end of ordinary time when Paul McTiernan and Cretaro both broke clear to face Williams, but the former chose to shoot himself when an easy pass would have wrapped up the win.

Those sort of errors have a way of coming back to haunt teams and when the fourth official signalled moments later that there would be four minutes of added time you sensed that Rovers would suffer for the missed opportunity.

Sure enough when Michael McNamara earned himself a red card for a trip on Jason Byrne in the fourth of those minutes the striker picked himself up and fired home the free-kick, although only after a long and nail-biting delay caused by the referee's attempts to get the wall back 10 yards and O'Riordan's to get on a replacement for the exhausted Keogh.

It seemed Sligo's dream was shattered, but as it was to turn out there was plenty more drama left in a compelling night of football.

SHELBOURNE: Willians; Heary, Doherty, Rogers, Crawley; R Baker (Hoolahan, 60 mins), Morgan (D Baker, 113 mins), Crawford, Cahill; Byrne, Geoghegan (G McCarthy, 71 mins).

SLIGO ROVERS: Kelly; Rossiter, O'Dwyer, McNamara, Miller; Keogh (Purcell, 90 mins), Feeney, Gaffney (Quinn, 94 mins), O'Brien (Gorman, 97 mins); McTiernan, Cretaro.

Referee: D McKeon (Dublin).