Shelbourne raise the bar even higher

The news from Tolka that Pat Fenlon is likely to have two strikers back from injury for Friday night's trip to Drogheda is unlikely to do morale amongst the chasing pack much good even at this early stage of the season.

Gary O'Neill and Glen Fitzpatrick have both missed Shelbourne's last two league games while Glen Crowe limped out of the win over Bray eight minutes before half-time but the league champions have, you might say, muddled on regardless.

Well, they've done a little more than that, in fact, and those who feared that their summer spending spree might make the title race something of a stroll will surely be concerned by the fact that just short of a quarter of the way into the campaign, the Dubliners sit three points clear at the top of the table, having scored more and conceded fewer goals than anybody else. They are, as it happens as well, already the only side to have preserved their unbeaten record in the league.

Crowe, who has thus far failed to score in eight appearances for his new club, is still a couple of weeks away from playing again but the return to fitness of Fitzgerald and O'Neill will mean that Fenlon can replace Jamie Harris up front if he so desires.

Not for the first time, however, the Welshman has proved useful in attack, scoring in each of the games he has started alongside Jason Byrne and reinforcing the impression that the Shelbourne boss really has reached the stage where he is spoilt for choice in just about every area of the pitch.

Ollie Cahill, to take just one instance, was one of those who contributed a great deal to last year's championship success but now finds himself edged out of the first team. There's hardly another club in the country just now where he wouldn't be a regular but Bobby Ryan, Richie Baker and Wes Hoolahan are all in contention for the same places as the former Cork City player, who has started just three of 12 competitive games. He has to hope he has done enough after coming on late in a match to re-establish himself a little higher in the pecking order.

Recently Fenlon has juggled things so as to facilitate three of the four but the one who has shone particularly brightly so far has been Richie Baker whose form since returning from America would leave you wondering just what it is they did over there to bring just about every aspect of his game on so much in such a short space of time.

Baker's promise, of course, was never seriously in doubt but too many times before players like him, who have set their heart on but missed out on moves to England, have lost their edge over the course of time here.

Instead, America appears to have rejuvenated him and having apparently become stronger, more perceptive and honed his eye for goal while at the New England Revolution, there will surely be interest in the 25-year-old again before too long.

Elsewhere in the team, the form of Dave Rogers and Colin Hawkins in central defence is such that it seems Harris would hardly be featuring if the clubs weren't a little short-handed up front just now.

And in midfield Alan Moore, undoubtedly one of the most gifted footballers in the game here has started two of the last three games on the bench while former Cameroon international Joseph Ndo, who looked so impressive during some of last year's European games, is only getting back to full fitness after a long lay-off.

Felix Healy insisted last weekend that his side, Finn Harps, would not come to Dublin expecting to be beaten but having arrived in the capital and seen the list of Shelbourne substitutes they must have found the idea that the game was pretty much up even before the kick-off tough enough to resist.

On balance the early indications are that the league will be tight enough this year with only Finn Harps proving incapable so far of packing any sort of punch or at least springing a surprise on a better team.

For Shelbourne things will presumably get tougher, most notably as the Champions League qualifiers come around again and the club's schedule gets more demanding. Clearly the intention at the club is to build on the progress achieved last year in Europe but their fortunes this year will very much depend on the luck of the draw and it is hard to gauge what a swift exit would do to morale either on or off the pitch.

As the campaign wears on there may also be a little disgruntlement behind the scenes amongst those players who expected to be playing more often. As long as the team keeps winning, however, it is hard for any player to criticise his manager's team selections and so, if the early indications are anything to go by, there may be little enough excuse for grumbling over the months ahead.