The early signs are good that Shelbourne can push on to another level after an impressive victory over Shamrock Rovers on Friday, according to former Hoops, UCD and Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Paul Corry.
Built on a watertight defence, Damien Duff's side made a step forward last season by finishing fourth in the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division.
While it may be early days in the 2024 campaign, and the main ambition will be to consolidate a spot in the top four in what is already shaping up to be an ultra-competitive season, Corry told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast that their 2-1 derby win over Shamrock Rovers was very much a "statement win".
"I say that in the context that they've been building towards this," he said. "Shamrock Rovers found it very difficult to play against Shels in recent games and they're always so well set up.
"It feels like they've been putting an extra piece of the jigsaw together in recent years whereby the structures were there and now they've got extra players and more strength in depth to add that bit more quality."
Corry was particularly impressed by how Shels harried the Hoops in a first half which saw Mark Coyle and Will Jarvis score well-taken goals before the half-hour mark, as well as the second-half resilience to prevent the reigning champions from getting anything tangible out of the game.
"When you look at Shels and you take a step back, they've got the foundations and the players now to go and push on to the next level," he said.
"It certainly feels that this is the season that they are best placed to do that.
"Damien Duff has them so well-drilled. Joey O'Brien, you can see from a defensive point of view, has them so well-drilled and when it came to that period of having to put their backs up against the wall, that back five defended really well and Conor Kearns had to come up with big saves which he did.
"I just think from a defensive point of view, they're very difficult to break down.
"They're going to be a really difficult team to play against again this year. I think they've gone to another level and I think they'll win more games and score more goals this season because of the players that they've added."
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