DESPITE going two goals down in 10 minutes, Derry City fought back to overwhelm a Dundalk side that was completely shattered before the finish at Oriel Park last night.

Dundalk got a great start when, in the fourth minute, a cross from the left by Ray Campbell was turned into his own net by Gavin Dykes. Derry were in trouble five minutes later when Joe Gallen ran onto a long ball out of defence by David Crawley and fired in a great shot which gave Tony O'Dowd in the Derry goal no chance.

Gradually, however, Derry got control of midfield with Tom Mohan causing the home defence a lot of trouble with crossfield runs. Sean Hargan put Derry back into the picture with a good turn and shot from the edge of the area in the 33rd minute.

Derry then experienced a period of dominance coming up to halftime which saw them hit the crossbar and finally, in a period of strong pressure, Tom McNulty scored the second own goal of the match in the 39th minute to leave it 2-2.

Dundalk fell apart in the second half with new signing Stephen Gallen failing to hold the centre -against some strong Derry attacks led by Hargan and Paul Hegarty. Derry went in front deservedly in the 60th minute when James Keddy hit a great shot from outside the area to give Les Fridge in the Dundalk goal no chance.

The game was as good as over three minutes later when Peter Hutton broke through the Dundalk centre to score Derry's fourth.