National League Premier Division: St Patricks Athletic 0 Shelbourne 0: Shelbourne may have played more impressively any number of times this season, but they have rarely set about the task required with more subdued efficiency than last night at Richmond Park where they eased their way to a draw that guaranteed them another National League Premier Division title.

Pat Fenlon said his team would make the short journey to Inchicore in search of a win, but, in the end, the extra two points would have flattered them against a St Patrick's side that bore little resemblance to the one that has spent the bulk of the past nine months battling it out at the wrong end of the table.

The would-be champions can hardly have crossed the city expecting an easy ride from their southside rivals - a young team these days who had more than one reason to want to salvage some pride - but they must have been surprised by the spirit shown by a team which, if it had a little more bite up front, might have obliged Fenlon and co to sit nervously around radios waiting for word of the final whistle in Cork.

Aiming to avoid a fourth defeat of the season at the hands of Fenlon's men and perhaps write themselves into the history books for having deprived Shelbourne of another title, the locals played with considerable heart through the opening stages giving their opponents neither time to settle nor space in which to work in two-thirds of the pitch.

Closer to Shelbourne's goal, however, there was rarely much to suggest that they might actually upset the applecart by scoring - the closest they came in the first half was just before the break when Keith Fahey found Colm Foley on the edge of the area and the centre back sent a looping header just wide of the left-hand post.

Aside from the small group who passed the night taunting Fenlon from the centre of the main stand, that was as much as the home support had to cheer about in the opening period.

Shelbourne, though never dominant, enjoyed the rest of what passed for scoring chances.

At one point Jason Byrne managed to get the ball into the net, but, having used Darragh Maguire as a battering ram with which to loosen Brendan Clarke's grip on a David Crawley cross, only the striker seemed surprised when the referee signalled for a free out rather than a goal.

Clarke coped well with his workload, although it didn't amount to anything too taxing, with Foley and Maguire preventing either Byrne or Glen Fitzpatrick from making much of an impact.

In fact, it was from central midfield, where Alan Moore and occasionally Jim Crawford were proving a handful for Paul Donnelly and Keith Fahey, that Shelbourne ever really threatened to take a grip on things. Even there, though, there was enough fight about the home side to prevent the game ever becoming too one-sided.

There were also brief spells in which Shelbourne's passing and movement served to remind the crowd of just why they had come to lead from beginning to end of this league campaign, but even when the defence and midfield started to find their rhythm the attack continued to struggle with Jamie Harris producing his side's best chance well into the second half.

With 16 minutes remaining Owen Heary almost made the breakthrough that would have ended any doubt about the destination of the title and, shortly afterwards, Jason Byrne looked set to score after rounding Clarke only for Foley to intervene brilliantly with a lunging close-range block.

From then on it was the home team that upped their game and pressed for a goal of their own. It never came, though, and, despite some frantic action during the closing minutes, Steve Williams didn't have to make a save of any quality.

Fenlon and the Shelbourne support must have been willing it all to end by then and their delight was obvious when only one minute of added-time was signalled from the sideline.

As it passed, the celebrations began to gather pace. As you read this, they may well still be going on back in Drumcondra.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Clarke; Prenderville, Foley, Maguire, Quigley; Doyle, Donnelly, Fahey, Byrne; Dunne, O'Keeffe (Smith, 87 mins).

Shelbourne: Williams; Heary, Harris, S Byrne, Crawley; Hoolahan, Crawford, Moore, Cahill; J Byrne, Fitzgerald.

Referee: P McKeon (Dublin).