Premier Division/ Shamrock Rovers 2 Shelbourne 4 : A club official from a country club recently observed that the problem with having so many Dublin derbies in this leagues is that "while anything and everything can happen, generally nothing at all happens."
Even he would have had to admit that if a system could promise this sort of roller-coaster ride of a game on a regular basis it would be worth enduring a bit of a geographical imbalance for.
The long-standing rivalry between these two sides clearly contributed a good deal to what turned out to be a wonderfully entertaining encounter but Shelbourne showed again how they hold the key to their own destiny in this league campaign with dramatically contrasting performances in each half that showed their best and worst.
At half-time they were two down to a side that had beaten them by that same score just two weeks ago but a wonderful second-half revival in which Jason Byrne starred and contributed two goals ensured that they retain their five-point advantage over Bohemians at the top of the table.
Byrne, Dave Rogers and Ollie Cahill all went close over the opening 10 minutes for the league leaders but to the frustration of their supporters none could provide the early lead that brief spell of domination appeared to merit.
A couple of minutes later that irritation in the stands turned to dismay as Stephen Grant rose almost unchallenged to head home a James Keddy corner. Rovers then started to win the emerging battle in midfield where Jason Colwell and Grant dominated.
That superiority yielded a second goal seven minutes before the break when a long kick-out was flicked on by Tony Grant and Glen Fitzpatrick coolly turned Kevin Doherty before tucking the ball past Steve Williams.
Rovers now looked to be on course for a potentially devastating double over their rivals but seemed to start losing their nerve almost from the restart. Fenlon's chat with his players during the interval might have been the key to their second half revival as Shelbourne tore into the Rovers defence with a vengeance and quickly started eating into their rivals' lead. Byrne finally found the net from the penalty spot after Doherty's headed goal had been somewhat hastily disallowed for a foul on him and five minutes later Richie Baker marked his arrival with a far post header after Cahill had swept past Gough down the left.
Baker and Stuart Byrne were then involved in helping Dave Crawley's free to Jamie Harris for goal number three and a remarkable 20 minute turnaround was completed 12 minutes from time when Crawley's corner from the right was headed home by Byrne in much the way that Grant had opened the scoring for the other side.
"We want five," chanted the Shelbourne fans for what remained of the contest. The Rovers players and fans, by then, must just have yearned for the final whistle.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: O'Dowd; Gough (Treacy, 89 mins), Deans, Palmer, Doyle; S Grant (Robinson, 78 mins), Boughanem, Colwell, Keddy; T Grant (Haylock, 78 mins), Fitzpatrick.
SHELBOURNE: Williams; Heary, Doherty, Rogers (McCarthy, 87 mins), Crawley; Hoolahan (R Baker, 59 mins) S Byrne, Crawford, Cahill; J Byrne (Rowe, 85 mins), Harris.
Referee: D Hancock (Dublin)
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