One league win in the last seven games and the goals are drying up. Still Shelbourne lead the way in the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division title race.
Their lead at the summit is now down to three points, this after a loss away to Galway United on Friday evening, while elsewhere Derry City earned a point late on against Shamrock Rovers after converting a controversial penalty on Foyleside. As for the Hoops, they lie seven points adrift of their Dublin rivals in third, still not out of the race to clinch what would be a record five top-flight titles on the spin.
The trio have six games left to play.
Shelbourne have been looking down on the rest for the past few months. Their trip west saw them again draw a blank as they failed to reply to Jimmy Keohane's early strike for the hosts.
Damien Duff's side welcome Sligo Rovers to Tolka Park on Friday next; a win would be welcome for the home faithful as they look to arrest the slide.
Yet Keith Treacy, speaking on the latest RTÉ Soccer Podcast, feels Shels can deliver the big prize even if it's a case of them crawling over the line.
"It still Shelbourne's to lose," he feels, in spite of their inability to add greatly to their goals-for column.
"They didn't seem to have a gear to get themselves a goal and that's the one real worry from the Shelbourne point of view," he added.
"When they go behind they don't seem to have that gear from an attacking sense to go up those levels. When somebody gets their nose in front that's when it's difficult for them.
"Nobody wants to go and have a game of football with Galway because you will be asked questions of your defence. There will be balls coming in left, right and centre you'll have to deal with; the odd elbow will be thrown so it will get a little bit physical. Anybody can lose to Galway away, so I'm still not pressing the panic button on Shelbourne.
"I think with the players they've lost over the course of the season, with one or two going back to their parent clubs and one or two being sold, it has become a bit more disjointed. I still feel Shelbourne will crawl towards the end.
"Everybody is knocking lumps out of everybody everywhere; they don't need the consistency, so they don't need to win the next five games. They can drop points, Derry will drop points, as will Shamrock Rovers."
And while Treacy feels the Shels faithful will not see it as a "poor season" even if they don't seal the deal, given that the club are only three years back in the top flight and have tasted European football, Johnny McDonnell added that it wound be a disappointment for Duff's side if they don't hang on to top spot.
"They may not have another opportunity to win it again," warned O'Donnell, who previously managed the club, before going on to highlight their goal drought and what one key member of the current playing squad can do to lift things.
"They need to calm down and not panic. But they are not scoring goals and they need to score goals. I think Galway, Bohs and Dundalk are the only teams below them to have scored less goals. Earlier in the season once they went ahead they were hard to peg back but they need someone to step up and bang in a few goals.
"The likes of Sean Gannon needs to sit them down and say, 'We'll be fine, we've got this far and it will get us over the line'.
"Sean has won medals and cups; he's the leader in the dressing room."
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