Shelbourne prove just why they're the best

On Soccer: The Cup final may still be waiting to be restored to its place of pride at the end of the domestic season but for the people at Carlsberg there is at least the consolation that after Friday night's result up at Tolka Park the meeting between Longford Town and Waterford United this weekend is a tougher one to call at this stage than the title race.

Shelbourne really only needed to avoid a second defeat in the space of five days by Bohemians on Friday night to take a substantial step towards the successful defence of their Premier Division crown and in trying circumstances in Drumcondra, they displayed both the strength and the character that has marked them out as the country's best side over the past couple of years.

The week was not exactly free of controversy. The build up to Monday's game at Dalymount had been marred prior to the kick-off by Ollie Byrne's threat to go to the High Court (where else?) in order to force its postponement and the immediate aftermath will be remembered for a minor fracas involving several members of the Shelbourne party and a senseless goon masquerading as a Bohemians supporter.

Then, on Friday evening, the club's problems were largely of their own doing for while Alan Moore limped off with a recurrence of an injury, Pat Fenlon had to decide on how best to cope with the loss from the back of the main stand due to a touchline ban. Stuart Byrne is likely to be watching a couple of games from a similar vantage point after an uncharacteristically reckless challenge on Bobby Ryan half an hour in which reduced the hosts to 10 men.

An unpromising position was made considerably more grim by Tony Grant's goal just before half-time but in the end all of the adversity simply served to set the scene for the home side's overwhelming display in the second half as Fenlon, via Eamonn Collins on the bench, reorganised his players on four separate occasions and Jason Byrne scored the goal that gave his side a point they richly deserved.

Gareth Farrelly must have felt somewhat let down by his players but he had been, by the end, completely outmanoeuvred by his more experienced opposite number and the result effectively marked the end, barring some sort of miracle, of his side's challenge for this season's league title.

The real test of Farrelly, of course, will come next season when the 28-year-old former international will have had the opportunity to put his own stamp on the squad up at Dalymount. With several prominent players approaching the end of their current contracts the Dubliner has the opportunity for some major tinkering, if that's what he wants, but he will be under no illusions about the need to come back in the new year with a side that, quite aside from the way Friday's night's single-goal lead over 10 men was allowed to slip away, perform with a little more grit, particularly when ahead.

In the club's previous six league games Bohemians had won three and drawn three but these latter games all looked very much like points dropped with last year's runners-up leading both St Patrick's Athletic and Longford only to allow two points to be snatched away from them very late on, while they proved incapable of scoring against Dublin City.

This last game, back the start of September, marked the latest instalment of a nightmarish run of encounters with a team almost certain to be relegated.

City have taken 22 points from 30 games but just short of a third of that tally - seven points - have been taken from their three encounters with their good friends down at Dalymount. Had Bohemians done nothing differently over the course of this season but beat the bottom club three times (as Shelbourne have) they, rather than their rivals, would be at the top of the table with six games remaining.

The reality is, however, they have lost twice and drawn once in their games with the team now managed by Roddy Collins and the upshot is that Cork City now look to be in the strongest position to mount a late challenge to the defending champions.

But City's prospects ahead of this evening's visit to Longford could certainly be a good deal brighter. Beat the Cup finalists tonight and win their other game in hand and Pat Dolan's side would notionally be within four points of Shelbourne with a trip to Tolka Park to come on Friday.

Their recent form, 12 points from 12 in the last month suggests that they might just pull it off and at least push the Dubliners all the way to the finish line, but their record against Fenlon's men this season - one point from three meetings - makes the required combination of results look something of a long shot, as does their generally erratic form over the course of the season. The current strong run, for instance, was preceded by a sequence of four games in which only the meetings with Dublin City and Shamrock Rovers yielded even draws and Cork, on a couple of occasions at least, looked curiously dispirited and lifeless.

With Drogheda United's challenge having evaporated a little more dramatically than might have been expected there is nobody else to trouble the champions now. The scrap for the European places should still prove interesting but top spot should be sorted out well before the boys in the eircom League have to trouble their counterparts in the League of Wales again for the loan of a trophy over the third weekend in November.