Friday night lights took on a new context as a shiny red neon scoreboard in the Ballybough End read 2-1 and Shelbourne earned a first league win over Shamrock Rovers since May 2005.
Shelbourne recovered from an early missed penalty from Tyreke Wilson to march two goals in front through superb individual efforts from Mark Coyle and Will Jarvis in an action-packed first half.
Rory Gaffney pulled one back for the defending champions four minutes after the restart to tee up a tension-filled second period and had it not been for a couple of late saves from Conor Kearns they may have snatched a point.
Rovers recovered from a slow start to win a fourth Premier Division title last season but their drive for five has hit an early pothole.
It was the hosts, roared on by a capacity 4,700 Tolka Park crowd who started quick, swarming the defending champions with an aggressive press.
Paddy Barrett typified this eagerness after he was first to a breaking ball from a corner in the fourth minute only to be bundled over in the area by Lee Grace.
Tyreke Wilson blasted the resulting penalty wide but Shels would get the goal their play deserved twelve minutes later.
From another corner, the ball broke to new club captain, Coyle who curled beautifully to the net from outside the box.
The Reds played lots of silky football but it was a brilliantly worked route one move that doubled their lead in the 26th minute.
Jarvis plucked a Kearns goal kick from the sky in between Josh Honohan and Dan Cleary then curled precisely past Leon Pohls.
As Mauro Picotto's 'Stadium’ rang in the ears of the Shelbourne players, they lost their concentration and Graham Burke appeared from the bench to kickstart the visitors.
Darragh Burns nearly curled in from a similar spot from where he scored here two seasons ago and Burke had a scooped effort headed off the line.
Running repairs on the scoreboard from the press box was the only blip on an otherwise dream first 45 from Damien Duff’s charges.
Rovers began the second half as they ended the first and just moments after Dylan Watts rattled the bar, Burke teed up Gaffney to tap home in the 49th minute.
Stephen Bradley’s side forced a flurry of set pieces but Shelbourne had weathered the storm.
Coyle’s piercing shot drew an excellent save from Pohls before the Hoops stopper pulled off a save of the season contender from Shane Farrell with 14 minutes to play.
Rovers threw the kitchen sink at Shels and a goalmouth scramble from Burke’s corner saw Kearns keep his side in front as the game ticked towards a grandstand finish.
Kearns was called upon to produce a stunning save in the 94th minute which preserved a precious three points.
Shelbourne: Conor Kearns, Sean Gannon, Tyreke Wilson, Kameron Ledwidge, JJ Lunney (Hakiki 91), Mark Coyle, Matty Smith (Farrell 65), John O’Sullivan (Caffrey 52), Gavin Molloy, Paddy Barrett, Will Jarvis (Martin 65)
Shamrock Rovers: Leon Pohls, Josh Honohan, Sean Hoare (Burke 36), Lee Grace, Daniel Cleary (Greene 71), Dylan Watts, Sean Kavanagh (Poom 46), Darragh Nugent (Kenny 77), Gary O’Neill, Rory Gaffney, Darragh Burns
Referee: Robert Harvey
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