Shelbourne 0 Derry City 2: Up at Tolka Park it may still seem unthinkable this morning but if Shelbourne eventually get to the end of this season and find their trophy cabinet bare there will surely be some rather painful reflection on the team's performances over the past month.

Bring knocked out of the Carlsberg-sponsored FAI Cup may not be a fatal blow to a team obsessively preoccupied with the league and Europe these days but last night's defeat by Derry City extends their run in recent weeks to six games without a win, which suggests Pat Fenlon's side might not do as well as they would like in either of the competitions by which the manager will really be judged at the end of the campaign.

At this point in May his players were coasting at the top of the league, within 90 minutes of winning the Setanta Cup and set to start their annual assault on this, a competition they have won three times in the last decade, as undisputed favourites.

A few short weeks on, their season is on a potentially calamitous slide to which the club's expensively assembled side seems entirely incapable of applying the brakes.

Derry have already shown themselves to be a side of some character this season and so calling a halt to the run here was never going to be the most straightforward of tasks.

Still, the home support must have expected their side to last a little more than the five minutes it took Gary Beckett to score before things began to unravel once more against the team that also ended their dreams of a double one round later on a little short of a year ago.

Shelbourne, to be fair, could hardly be said to have fallen apart of late but whereas they were taking their chances and limiting the number of opportunities enjoyed by their opponents through the opening weeks of the season, they lost their way a little in both departments since drawing in United Park on May 13th.

Last night they were 2-0 down after 23 minutes with Clive Delaney, like Beckett before him, making the most of a defensive error to give his side a commanding advantage.

City might have had one or two more but then the hosts could easily have been back on terms by the end had Glen Crowe put away any one of the handful of chances that came his way and David Crawley, the culprit for the opening goal, had not had a poorly placed second half penalty saved by David Forde.

Shelbourne, in fact, probably had just about the better of the game in terms of possession and attempts on goal but then such measures are rather meaningless when one side has a 2-0 lead to defend and the other forces, the spot kick aside, just one save of real quality.

That came eight minutes into the second period when Crawley's cross from the left was met by Richie Baker and the winger's header was tipped over brilliantly by Forde, who had only a fraction of a second to respond.

A goal then and City might well grown nervous about what remained of their lead but as it was they played with considerable confidence, passing the ball out of defence impressively well and always looking to have the potential to grab another goal themselves on the break.

They came close to doing so when Killian Brennan headed Eddie McCallion's curling cross from the right just over but never created anything else quite as clear-cut despite the home side's growing need to commit themselves to attack.

SHELBOURNE: Williams; Brennan (J Byrne, 65 mins), Hawkins, Rogers (Crawford, 81 mins), Crawley; Baker (Ryan, 76 mins), Ndo, S Byrne, Cahill; Hoolahan; Crowe.

DERRY CITY: Forde; McCallion, Delaney, Hutton, McChrystal; Cash (Murphy, half-time), Higgins, Martyn, K Brennan (O'Flynn, 90 mins); Beckett, Farren (Doherty, 76 mins).

Referee: A Kelly (Cork).