Dundalk strolled to a 5-0 victory led by the impressive Daryl Horgan with the former Ireland star contributing a goal, an assist and a deflected own goal in the first half to kill the game as Sam Durrant produced a wonder goal and a late John Martin header to see off Cork City on a night the visitors will want to forget in Oriel Park.

There was just 18 minutes on the clock when a close range free kick from Horgan found Hayden Muller unmarked with the simplest of headers into an empty net to get the ball rolling.

Less than ten minutes later Horgan saw his initial pass blocked but a poor defensive header to Byrne in goal allowed the former Irish International to capitalise latching on to the ball and firing past Byrne to double the hosts advantage.

The game effectively ended as a contest just before the break and once again Dundalk’s recent signing was involved. A deflection found its way to him in the box and his attempted header across to Paul Doyle was knocked into his own net by the retreating Cian Coleman.

Dundalk did have a scare in first half injury when a blunder at the back resulted in a full length save from Sheppard as he pushed Keating's effort onto the post. Joe O'Brien Whitmarsh almost nodded the rebound home but Sheppard recovered to sustain the shutout and put his side into the dressing room three goals ahead at the break.

Dundalk hadn’t finished their goal spree by any means as they peppered the visitor’s goals with chances as Cork almost seemed like they had accepted their fate of a relegation playoff in a couple of weeks time.

With an hour on the clock, Sam Durrant picked up the ball on the sideline just inside the Cork half and set off on a mazy run around the Cork back four. Having brushed off a few challenges his placed effort found the back of the net leaving Byrne motionless to kill any Cork hopes.

Cameron Elliot almost got a fifth but after John Martin found him alone on the left hand side of the Cork box, his shot beat Byrne but the powerful effort cannoned back off the base of the woodwork and Cork managed to clear to safety eventually.

In a rare foray into the Dundalk half, Cork City’s top scorer Ruairi Keating almost grabbed a consolation for the visitors as he rattled the crossbar with a firm header from a decent set piece delivery in the last ten minutes as Dundalk scrambled the ball clear at the second attempt.

Dundalk would round off the game with a headed goal from John Martin as he met Archies Davies’ cross giving Byrne no chance with the finish and sending the Dundalk fans home very happy after some disappointing results in recent weeks.