As usual the real stars of the Eircom League, the players, showed the suits in the offices and boardrooms of the clubs and the FAI what this game is meant to be about. As the players of Saint Pats and Rovers fought out a cracking game of football in front of a large and passionate crowd at Richmond Park those men in the dull suits were at it again, meeting in Merrion Square to give the championship to a team on administrative grounds. If Shelbourne are crowned champions it will be a victory for red tape and office work as the Saints are proving on the pitch that there is only one team worthy of being Champions of Ireland.
The contrast in the two venues told its own story. 'Richer' rocked to an electric atmosphere as the Saints faithfull rallied to the call to get behind the team in these terrible circumstances. With a lively and colorful response from the Rovers travelling support in the Amstel stand both sets of fans provided the perfect background noise to a brilliant contest on the pitch. Over in Tolka, Shels had their title destiny in their own hands yet could barely muster 500 fans as they played out a limp wristed scoreless draw with the inexperienced UCD.
The less said about Shelbourne the better but it is clear that their highly paid players are unfit to lace the boots of this amazing Saints' squad. The Saints only got one goal tonight, Darragh Maguire's on the stroke of half time, his second in two games but in truth these two Dublin rivals served up a game packed with chances and played at a typically high tempo.
The papers noted that Saint Pats had just about edged Rovers in the opening 45 minutes as the Pats were roared on by their support who gathered on the camac side for the first half.
On several occasions, the speed of the home side's moves into the Rovers half could well have brought an opening goal, but the crosses were not so good with Mbabazi and Ger McCarthy guilty of some wayward passes.
Good scoring chances resulted from the set-piece genius of Martin Russell with excellent corners enabling Darragh Maguire to force Tony O'Dowd into a quick reaction stop at his right-hand post with a header from four or five yards out and Osam to nod over from a similar distance.
For Rovers, Billy Woods produced the best chance early with a low driven shot that Séamus Kelly did well to push away, but, moments later, Paul Marney, who had a good game, was presented with a similar opportunity at the other end when he seemed to hurry his final shot and make it easy for the O'Dowd.
In first-half injury-time, there was a break in the usual frantic exchanges and the breakthrough came as the Saints re-grouped for a Russell free-kick. His long curling free from wide was perfectly flighted for a group of his team-mates who were arriving late at the far post and Maguire, who headed the queue, turned the ball firmly past O'Dowd with a shot that this time gave the goalkeeper no chance whatsoever. One nil, a goal on the stroke of halftime was exactly what happened between these two at Richer already this season.
It was a blow that Rovers were never to fully recover from. Damien Richardson's side did manage to create a couple of half decent shooting opportunities over the course of the second half and Marc Kenny and Tony Grant did go close. Overall the Hoops never looked like breaking their miserable recent record in front of goal.
But it was Dolan's men who continued to edge it, even though the game became more scrappy - the result of some clumsy fouls and at least one moment of more genuine nastiness. Ageing referee Hugh Byrne made a number of questionable calls as he struggled to keep up with the pace of the game.
With 11 minutes remaining, the visitors passed up a golden opportunity to snatch a draw when Pat Deans's shot was scuffed away by Kelly and Shane Robinson scooped the follow up way over the bar. It summed up Rovers poor from in front of goal that has destroyed their season.
Moments later they were almost put away by man mountain Paul Osam whose goal was somewhat unbelievabley disallowed for offside. It stayed 1-0, but St Patrick's had already done more than enough to earn it, even if the good natured celebrations were soon ended as the "men in suits" had there say yet again. A great night on the pitch, a sad night off it.
ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Kelly; Croly, Foley, Maguire, Burke; Marney, Osam, Griffin, Russell; Mbabazi (Kelly, 79 mins), McCarthy.
SHAMROCK: O'Dowd; Costello (S Grant 87 mins), Palmer, Deans, Byrne; Kenny (Robinson, 71 mins), Colwell, Tracey, Woods; Francis, T Grant.
Referee: H Byrne (Dublin).
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