Cork City - 0 Shelbourne - 0 Steve Williams saved a last-minute penalty and Shelbourne will feel a sense of justice was done as they finished with nine players in a dreadfully poor match that only came to life very late on.
It is a result nonetheless the Dubliners will perhaps gladly accept given the circumstances, as it keeps Pat Fenlon's side top of the Premier Division table.
Williams dived the right way to parry away John O'Flynn's penalty right on 90 minutes after Jim Crawford had been sent off for his second bookable offence after pulling down George O'Callaghan.
O'Callaghan had also been central to the other sending off, a straight red card for Shelbourne substitute Jim Gannon 15 minutes earlier.
This was less clear-cut from a neutral observer's point of view, but Waterford referee Jimmy O'Neill reached straight for his back pocket after Gannon tripped O'Callaghan over on the touchline of the stand side.
Gannon may have been the last man back, but O'Callaghan would not have been clean through on goal, making O'Neill's decision somewhat harsh.
Cork manager Pat Dolan kept Shelbourne guessing by naming 20-year-old Denis Behan in the side for his full league debut. Behan, nominally a striker, started out on the right in a very attacking 4-4-2 line-up, with Kevin Doyle on the left and goalscorers O'Flynn and O'Callaghan up front.
A cagey start meant the expectant 6,000 crowd didn't get to see a chance on goal until the 14th minute when Shelbourne defender Tony McCarthy had to stretch to get in a good block to put O'Callaghan's shot out for a corner.
That came two minutes after the first incident of note, a comical bit of all-in wrestling when Shelbourne winger Richie Baker reacted to a challenge from Cork captain Greg O'Halloran and they had to be separated; some sensible refereeing by O'Neill settled things after a quick chat to both.
That proved to be the only real spark in a pretty disappointing first half, which Cork generally had the better of.
A bit of instinctive skill from O'Callaghan might have changed proceedings on 38 minutes, but his first-time volley, after Shelbourne midfielder Thomas Morgan's defensive header had dropped kindly, was over the bar.
Jason Byrne, not unexpectedly, was Shelbourne's chief threat but he lived off scraps; his only clean effort on goal came on 32 minutes when he volleyed well over.
Then, in first-half stoppage time, Cork ought to have taken the lead. The industrious O'Callaghan picked out Alan Bennett from a free kick, but the big defender, though unchallenged, contrived to head well wide.
Unfortunately, the second half offered little improvement on the mediocrity of the first 45 minutes, until that late flurry of controversial action.
A quickly-taken short corner by O'Callaghan to Woods caught the visiting defence asleep, but not goalkeeper Williams who had to work to touch the ball over.
Williams then stood his ground well to hold a cross shot from Doyle who had time and space to make more of a 61st-minute opening.
Doyle was again given free rein down the left minutes later to set up O'Callaghan, whose finish was typical of the game as he blazed his first-time shot well over.
CORK CITY: Devine; Carey, Bennett, Murray, Woods; Behan (CP O'Brien, 87 mins), O'Grady, O'Halloran, Doyle; O'Callaghan, O'Flynn.
SHELBOURNE: Williams; Heary, Doherty (Gannon, 17 mins), A McCarthy, Crawley; R Baker (G McCarthy, 67 mins), Crawford, Morgan, Hoolahan; Geoghegan (Cahill, 74 mins), Byrne.
Referee: J O'Neill (Waterford).
