Talk of Shelbourne's title credentials will only get louder after they saw off St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park for their fifth league win in a row to march five points clear at the Premier Division summit.
A sumptuous second half brace from Will Jarvis ensured Shelbourne earned their third successive Dublin derby victory and left the Saints reeling in eighth place, 10 points off the top after six games.
Jarvis made time stop in the 48th minute as he nonchalantly cut in from the left and passed a low curling effort through a barrage of bodies which nestled in the far corner.
It was a thing of beauty and it was met with a seal of approval from Damien Duff who just stood and applauded.
Ironically, Pats thought time had stopped when Liam Burt was brought down and Jarvis punished them with another curling finish before Jake Mulraney’s header pulled one back for the hosts and ended Shels’ run of 342 minutes without conceding.
An entertaining opening half ended with just one shot on target between the sides but it wasn’t for a lack of chances.
Duff instructed Kearns to go long from kickouts to Sean Boyd whose influence grew as the half wore on and he stood up an excellent cross to the back post but former Saint Matty Smith blasted over.
A snapshot from Brandon Kavanagh was well held by Kearns and that was the best Jon Daly’s men had to offer in a lacklustre first-half performance.
Pats had three strong penalty appeals turned down by referee Rob Harvey in the first half, the biggest claim came when Kearns’ skewed clearance broke for Jason McClelland who went down under pressure from the recovering Sean Gannon.
Shels’ four-pronged attack of Liam Burt, Jarvis, Smith and Boyd caused the Saints huge problems, particularly down the left and Jarvis almost curled in a beauty but it fell the wrong side of the post.
Kavanagh, again the bright spark for the hosts, fired narrowly wide from the edge of the box after driving at the heart of the Shels defence.
A sensational goal from Jarvis opened the scoring moments later, he stood up Freeman, and with little backlift curled a pass into the bottom corner to the delight of his manager.
The Hull City loanee doubled his season goal tally to four just before the hour mark.
Burt was brought down and with everybody expecting a foul, Boyd pounced and squared it to the winger who curled into the same corner again.
That goal sparked a response from the beleaguered Saints and Mulraney didn’t take long to make an impact from the bench as his glancing header awoke a disgruntled Richmond Park and teed up a grandstand final 18 minutes.
Pat’s launched an onslaught of pressure on the Shelbourne goal but were denied by some heroic defending from the away side who are yet to drop points from a winning position.
St Patrick’s Athletic: Danny Rogers, Kieran Freeman (Sjoberg 60), Anto Breslin, Joe Redmond, Jamie Lennon, Ruairi Keating, Chris Forrester (Melia 87), Kian Leavy, Jason McClelland (Mulraney 60), Brandon Kavanagh, Luke Turner
Shelbourne: Conor Kearns, Sean Gannon, Tyreke Wilson (Ledwidge 75), Jonathan Lunney, Mark Coyle, Sean Boyd, Matty Smith (Caffrey 62), Gavin Molloy, Patrick Barrett, Will Jarvis (Farrell 75), Liam Burt (O’Sullivan 84)
