Bohemians were good value for this precious win that could belatedly ignite their stuttering season.
But Sligo Rovers passed up the chance to move second in the table after slumping to a second home defeat in four days.
Firefly Liam Burt tormented the home defence for 70 minutes and sealed the points with the Gypsies’ winner midway through the first-half.
Bohs could have won by more, but ‘keeper Ed McGinty was in inspired form and denied Ali Coote, Promise Omochere and Kris Twardek to keep the scoreline respectable.
Rovers never did enough and rued the absence of the Premier Division’s top scorer, Aidan Keena, who shipped an injury in Friday’s stagnant defeat to Shelbourne.
And the hosts’ cause wasn’t helped when his replacement Max Mata squandered their two best chances of the night.
But the victory was particularly timely for Keith Long who had seen Bohs booed by some fans after Friday’s last-gasp defeat to Derry City and the draw at UCD.
This time, however, the travelling fans sang ‘Keith Long’s black and red army’ on repeat deep into the six-minutes as injury time.
Reeling after their Shels slump, Sligo made five changes.
Bohs, who coughed up a lead in their injury-time defeat to Derry, kept faith with the same team that started at Dalymount Park.
But eyebrows were raised after Long took the captaincy off Tyreke Wilson, with Jordan Flores donning the armband instead.
And despite a nervy start, the Gypsies were good value for their half-time lead as they rattled the Bit O’Red time and again on the break.
Omochere was a handful leading the line and caused centre-backs Garry Buckley and Nando Pijnaker a lot of bother.
And sensing the threat he carried having rattled the crossbar early on, Burt and Ali Coote were always willing to gamble on the ball falling their way.
Rovers weren’t without their chances but in Keena’s absence, lead striker Mata struggled to take a hold on his second start.
That said, he was responsible for the hosts’ best chance of the opening half when James Talbot was at full stretch just before the break.
But Rovers were already chasing the game by that stage having conceded in the 26th minute - from their own throw-in deep in the Bohs half.
When Coote hooked the ball to the halfway line, Omochere not only held up the ball but turned and ran at pace.
And when he laid it off to Burt, the Scottish flyer carried the ball into the box and beat McGinty with a shot that clipped Buckley’s foot but was going in regardless.
Greg Bolger and Niall Morahan had let their grip on midfield slip and Bohs made hay with Twardek drawing a save from McGinty.
Mata then passed up a second chance to haul the hosts on level terms by planting a free header over at close range from a dangerous Adam McDonnell free.
But Bohs were wasteful too.
Their bench was on its feet ready to celebrate when Omochere teed up Coote in a three-v-one situation but McGinty raced off his line to deny him from 12-yards.
Bohs brought on Dawson Devoy and Junior to inject fresh life into the cause late on, but they were rarely troubled for the remainder.
The standard of Rovers’ crossing left a lot to be desired and Talbot had little enough to contend with for the remainder as Buckley’s changes came too late in the day.
McGinty, on the other hand, kept earning his crust.
He denied Omochere late on before Paddy Kirk went close to snatching what would have been an underserved equaliser at the death.
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