St Patrick's Atheltic got the news they were hoping for tonight when a High Court judge refused Shelbourne's application to overturn the independent arbitrator's ruling on the 'Marney Affair'.
St Pat's will now retain the nine points which were previously deducted from them for fielding an ineligble player, Paul Marney, in the first three matches of the current season, and remain in third place in the league.
Shelbourne Chief Executive Ollie Byrne was in court but declined to comment on the judge's verdict which included the stipulation that Shelbourne pay 50 per cent of the FAI's legal fees arising from the case, a figure which would amount to about 10,000 euro.
FAI General Secretary Brendan Menton also abstained from commenting on the merits of the judge's decision, saying simply: "I wish we hadn't had to come here today. And now I simply want to say 'May the best team win the league'".
