After the disappointment of Tuesday, when Shelbourne's attempt to wrap up the league on home territory came to very little, Dermot Keely's side made amends at the Regional Sports Centre last night, beating Waterford United by two goals to nail down the club's ninth championship title and their first since the 1991-92 season.

There wasn't much of a carnival atmosphere and in general it was a dull encounter in which the home side were made to look inferior from beginning to end.

However the couple of hundred travelling supporters weren't really looking for too much out of the trip. A point, "a piece of tin" as Keely has taken to referring to the Eircom league trophy these days and a good night out. Having lost just one game all season, it seemed a good bet that they would get what they wanted.

In fact the game, and title, had been wrapped up by half-time with Dermot Keely's side not even needing the help they had been receiving from UCD at Dalymount.

The home side never seriously threatened to beat the champion select but to be fair they did come through the opening quarter of an hour without any of Shelbourne's increasingly prolific attackers causing much trouble to Michael Devine.

Devine, however, was in the mood for bringing misfortune upon himself and when Dave Whittle played what looked a decent enough back pass in the direction of his goalkeeper, Devine unwisely opted to take a touch in order to line up his clearance. When the touch was poor Stephen Geoghegan nipped in to push the ball wide and cut it back in from six yards.

Between that and the break United played like a side whose relegation troubles are already behind them, something that's actually some way from being the case. Rarely did they manage to shift play in the Dubliners' half of the pitch and when they did there was never any support for Karl Gannon or Gerard Stirling.

The result was that Shelbourne enjoyed the vast bulk of possession and although they created little of note around the box, Pat Fenlon, James Keddy and Richie Baker were all enjoying the sort of freedom to get forward that has generally cost opposing sides dearly, especially over the past couple of months.

Sure enough the second goal, when it came some 90 seconds before the interval, involved Keddy providing the through ball and Baker the lob from between his markers that left Devine wishing he'd stayed back on his line.

With that the night's work was done for the visitors and there was very little hint of urgency about their play in the second period.

Instead they allowed their hosts to take up far more advanced positions than they had earlier, opting to subdue the game in the last third of the pitch rather than controlling it in the middle.

It made little difference as Shelbourne's back four were the foundation on which this league was won long before the team's strikers finally began to hit full flow. Over the past couple of months Geoghegan, the Bakers, Keddy and Fenlon have done enough to make the club the joint top scorers in the country. In defence, their superiority has long been undisputed.

As is the status of their manager. With last night's success Keely joins the very short list of managers who have achieved championship success with three different clubs - Jim McLaughlin is the only other man to do it in living memory.

At Shamrock Rovers he prolonged a winning run that had looked to be drawing to a close. At Dundalk he turned what looked to be a fairly ordinary side into champions through hard word and sheer determination. Now he has taken a good side and turned them into the best. Not a bad hat-trick to reflect on when your days in the game are over and done with. Keely's, however, appear to be anything but.

"In one way it was a disappointment not to win the other night," Keely said afterwards, "but I've been in this game long enough to know that you can't write scripts. Now we'll go out there on Sunday week against Derry, the lads will get their medals, the pressure will be off and hopefully we can put on a bit of a show."

Waterford United: Devine; Smith, Riordan, T McGrath, Frost; Kirby, D McGrath, Whittle, Griffin; Gannon, Stirling. Subs: Markey and Wood for D McGrath and Stirling (half-time).

Shelbourne: Williams; Heary, Scully, McCarthy, D Geoghegan; R Baker, Doolin, Fenlon, Keddy; D Baker, S Geoghegan. Subs: Campbell for D Geoghegan (71 mins).

Referee: J Stacey (Athlone).