There must have been a bit of a communications breakdown in the Bohemians camp before last night's game at Tolka park.

Roddy Collins had insisted beforehand that his side wouldn't be in the business of doing St Patrick's Athletic any favours.

This morning, though, after the league champions again suffered yet another second-half collapse against Dublin rivals, the gap at the top is down to three points and a league that has looked dead more than once appears again to have some life left in it.

Shelbourne's fate was sealed during a hectic six-minute spell midway through the second period.

First, with the score 1-1, Alex Nesovic was brought down inside the box and Trevor Molloy stepped up to firmly plant the penalty into the top right hand corner.

Then, before the home side had really had the chance to get to grips with the blow, Simon Webb provided Nesovic with the opportunity to get onto the scoresheet himself.

No sooner had he done it than Pat Scully made an uncharacteristic blunder when trying to cut out a high ball towards the Shelbourne area.

The big defender seemed to recover well, but Glen Crowe held off the challenge and kept his balance wonderfully to slot home number four.

Suddenly you found yourself wondering about just how steady Shelbourne's nerve will remain between now and the first weekend in May.

Last night, at least, they firmed things up late on with Stephen Geoghegan adding a 75th-minute goal to Scully's close range header after a little over an hour.

It was all the more respectable considering that they had had to play with just 10 men for the bulk of the contest after Richie Foran had been sent off early in the first period.

His was just one of a string of offences during a regularly hot blooded opening 45 minutes. Most of the guilty parties could, at least, claim that their intention had been pure and five got bookings in the first half when one or two might have seen red.

But when Foran attracted the attention of the referee's assistant for a clash with Dave Hill as the pair waited for a Shelbourne free to be sent in from the left, there was little doubt that the young striker was going to depart the game early.

It was the fourth time this season that the Tolka Park crowd have seen him marched off midgame and the teenager, apparently on the verge of moving to England during the summer, is now likely to miss a good portion of Shelbourne's championship run in, an added blow given the renewed competition at the top of the table.

The impact of the dismissal was all the more significant for the fact that it came three minutes after Hill had given Bohemians the lead, the centre half having sent Paul Byrne's free from the left neatly inside the right post with a glancing header.

Shelbourne had been doing well in the opening quarter of an hour, persistently denying space to opponents who were themselves showing a good deal more composure than they had managed on Tuesday in Inchicore.

In front of goal, though, things wouldn't quite fall into place for Dermot Keely's men.

Both of their best opportunities during the first period fell to Dessie Baker.

Having narrowly missed the target after 11 minutes, the Shelbourne striker took a fraction too long to attempt his finish just before half-time when James Keddy had slipped him clear into the box.

The misses proved costly and they'll need to pick themselves up quickly and win at UCD on Tuesday if a title they looked to have virtually wrapped up eight weeks ago isn't to become the focus of a late season dogfight.

If that does become the case then, just now, they look like they will have difficulty winning it.

SHELBOURNE: Williams; Heary, Scully, John (S Geoghegan, 69 mins), D Geoghegan; R Baker, Fenlon, Doolin (Crawford, 70 mins), Keddy; Foran, D Baker.

BOHEMIANS: Russell; O'Connor, Maher, Hill, Webb; Byrne, Hunt, Caffrey, Rutherford (Molloy, 27 mins); Crowe, Nesovic (O'Neill, 76 mins).

Referee: J Stacey (Athlone).