All components clicked into place for perfect finale

Emmet Malone profiles Shelbourne's season which began at full steam and ended with them successfully defending the Premier Division title.

If it was Cork City's late charge that made the climax of this season, it was Shelbourne's early form that laid the basis for their championship success. Pat Fenlon's side were barely out of the blocks when it became clear they would again be the team for the rest to beat.

With Jason Byrne hitting his stride from day one they soared to the top of the table and the rest could only watch as the defending champions took up where they had left off and made their bid for another league title from the front of the pack.

Far from looking tired, Shelboure kicked off with three straight wins and by the time they suffered their first defeat, away to Shamrock Rovers towards the end of April, they had taken 21 points from nine games in which Byrne had scored eight times.

It seemed there would be no stopping the former Bray Wanderers striker who not only put goals away with remarkable regularity but also used his power and pace to considerable effect to create problems for defences in every game, often setting up goals for others.

Glen Fitzpatrick's arrival provided the league's leading scorer with a new strike partner and if the former Shamrock Rovers man never quite established himself as being particularly prolific neither his work rate nor determination to contribute to the team's cause could ever be questioned.

Over the course of the season the big 23-year-old played a key part in enabling Byrne to achieve his target of 25 league goals while his ability to win possession in the air and pressure defenders into making errors often helped the likes of Stuart Byrne, Wes Hoolahan and Alan Moore to get forward into threatening positions.

Europe proved something of a distraction in July when the leaders took just two points from three games and two weeks after the home defeat by Drogheda they lost in Waterford at which point it began to look as though they might be losing their way slightly.

In between the two defeats, however, they went to Cork for the second time and won thanks to a Stuart Byrne goal scored on the hour. The midfielder's winner could hardly have been more significant for, had the Dubliners drawn instead of won that night at Turner's Cross, then Cork would only have had to match their result last night to lift the title.

Stuart Byrne, of course, was one of Fenlon's key contributors over the course of the campaign. Along with the likes Dave Rogers, Jamie Harris and Ollie Cahill he was there week in week out, playing almost all of the games and rarely putting a foot significantly wrong.

Owen Heary, the team's skipper and an inspirational figure at right back, would probably be the player of the year if you ignore Jason Byrne's heroics up front while Steve Williams was the only player in the squad to play every minute of every game with only his display in the recent loss at Longford appearing to blemish an otherwise impressive season.

By then the team was well into its run-in and, though faltering slightly, worked hard to pick up enough points to hold off City's dramatic late charge.

Cork's momentum built all the way to last night's final round of games when they were finally seen off too. Though it will be of little consolation to them, Pat Dolan and his players emerged from the campaign with a good deal to be proud of but they rue the fact that over the past eight months only Dublin City and St Patrick's Athletic conceded more points to Shelbourne in their meetings.

In the end it was closer than most would have expected a couple of months back but the league table, as they say, doesn't lie and a glance at it this morning is enough to confirm Shelbourne are once again the best team in the country.