The "Paul Marney affair" will be settled in court after Shelbourne were today given leave in the High Court to issue a notice of legal proceedings against the FAI.
Shelbourne have taken the action following the decision by the FAI to restore nine league points to St Patrick's Athletic.
The points were initially deducted from the Inchicore club after it allegedly fielded an unregistered player (Marney) last autumn.
But last month an independent arbitrator overruled the decision and returned all the points on the grounds that the offence was "innocuous".
The case is due to come before the court on Friday.
St Pat's currently lie third, six points behind league leaders Shelbourne, with a game in hand.
