Waterford United 1 Shelbourne 2: Shelbourne moved back to the top of the Premier Division after a narrow victory over Waterford at the RSC last night.

Two early strikes from Ollie Cahill and Jason Byrne gave the champions victory.

Shelbourne got off to a perfect start, hitting two goals in the opening 12 minutes. Cahill opened the scoring on nine minutes when he raced onto a Byrne pass and beat the advancing Dan Connor.

Three minutes later, Shelbourne doubled their lead. Steve Williams booted a long clearance down the field and, with the Waterford defence sleeping, Byrne controlled the ball before cracking home his 10th League goal of the season.

At this stage it was all Shelbourne as they dominated midfield, and with Jamie Harris and Byrne in fine form up front, the Waterford defence had a torrid opening 20 minutes.

However, Waterford stuck to their task and were unlucky not to pull a goal back on the stroke of half time as Williams made a brilliant save to deny David Mulcahy.

The second half saw Waterford come right back into the game and they pulled a goal back two minutes into the second half. Kevin Waters put over a corner kick, Vinny Sullivan touched it on, and Kevin O'Brien arrived at the far post to sweep the ball high into the net beyond Williams.

It was Waterford's turn to control midfield as Shelbourne were pushed onto the back foot, but despite all their possession Waterford never seemed likely to come up with an equaliser.

WATERFORD UTD: Connor; McLoughlin (Byrne 77 mins), Frost, Breen, Mallon; O'Brien, Mulcahy, Clifford, Waters (Reilly 56 mins); Fenn (Murphy 66 mins), Sullivan.

SHELBOURNE: Williams; Heary, Crowley, T McCarthy, Rogers; Morgan, Cahill, S Byrne (G McCarthy), J Byrne; Harris (Geoghegan 83 mins), Holahan.

Referee: A Buttimer (Cork).