Both sides are now five points clear of third-placed Coleraine but with a game left to play. The Bannsiders meet Armagh City tonight and anything less than a Coleraine win should see both the Reds and the Swifts progress to the last eight.

Dungannon, parading new signing Rory Hamill, created the first opening of note after 16 minutes when Niall McGinn tested keeper John Connolly with a low drive while, ten minutes later at the other end, Chris Scannell surely should have done better when he fired an effort from a Liam Fleming cross over the bar.

However it was the aforementioned Hamill who perhaps came closest to breaking the deadlock after pouncing on a poor David McAlinden clearance only to direct the ball just wide of the goal.

And Hamill was in action again early in the second half when he forced Connolly into action to turn a strong drive over.