Don King would probably have done it differently. Somebody with the his ruthless marketing instincts and spectacular disregard for the rules would have strung it out for even longer. In one corner the champions, unbeaten in 12; in the other the challengers, unbeaten in 16. For quite a while it had been building up to this one and in the end it almost felt a little disappointing that there had to be a loser.

Unless you're a Shelbourne fan, that is, for last night at Tolka Park Dermot Keely's side maintained their remarkable early-season run without a defeat in considerable style. They played football or battled as the circumstances required.

They ran their opponents into the ground and while the visitors held on for most of the 90 minutes, when one of Liam Buckley's men finally made a mistake Stephen Geoghegan's penalty kick 18 minutes from time was enough to decide a fast, entertaining and very physical clash in favour of the league leaders.

The niggle in the game boiled over in the second half when Trevor Croly of St Patrick's was sent off.

The home side might have regretted not making more of the edge they had possessed during the first half, a period in which the title holders conceded a lot of ground and, by playing just Trevor Molloy up front, effectively invited their hosts to push forward in numbers. That they did with relish, particularly down the right where Richie Baker was at the heart of most of his side's better moves. Every time the young winger cut inside and ran at defenders Liam Buckley's side looked to be in trouble, but the teenager did not take this option often enough, and repeatedly tried, without success, to pick out a team-mate in the box with an angled cross instead.

Had his or James Keddy's crossing been better the locals would almost certainly have gone in for the break in front. As it was Packie Lynch and Stephen McGuinness of St Patrick's were required to make a series of clearing headers from around the penalty spot but it rarely got more hectic than that.

Things were slightly different when the visiting defence had to cope with some closer combat. When, after 35 minutes, the two Bakers linked up neatly with a couple of quick passes on the right hand side of the area it took a fine block by Croly to prevent the younger of the pair, Richie, hitting the target from less than 10 yards out.

On the stroke of half-time Shelbourne went even closer, Richie Baker this time linking up with Paul Doolin, whose shot was tame enough to be gathered easily by goalkeeper Trevor Woods. Buckley had to change things, and he did. On came Marcus Hallows for the restart, off went Barry Prenderville and the system changed to 4-4-2. Almost immediately the tussle started to have a far more even look about it.

Shelbourne were still just about having the better of it when, with fractionally over the hour gone, an Owen Heary ball wide on the right prompted an error from Shane Harte whose initial intervention was clearly arm to ball.

After Stephen Geoghegan had scored from the spot, his fourth of the season, the pace stepped up a gear or two and one or two of the game's more niggling rivalries started to boil over. Dessie Baker and Croly had already had words and more a couple of times before Croly attempted a hefty challenge on the striker as he turned on half-way.

It was far from the worst challenge of the night, but Baker went down like a sack of spuds and referee Paul McKeon, a model of self-restraint up until that point, decided it was time to restore some order. Off went Croly, just as his bench looked set to change things around again.

Buckley acted anyway, bringing on Eddie Gormley and Donal Broughan - who was lucky not to be dismissed himself not long afterwards for shoving Heary in the face - but there was little the 10 men could do against a Shelbourne side full of confidence and with more room than ever in which to play.

The visiting side's best chance had come with close to 20 minutes remaining, Molloy's corner was flicked on for Alan McNevin, whose backward header was cleared spectacularly off the line by Richie Baker. When it passed you could sense the message from Shelbourne players to their crosscity rivals as the needle set in. "Going down, lads, going down." And so they did.

SHELBOURNE: Williams; Heary, Scully, McCarthy, D Geoghegan; R Baker, Doolin, Fenlon, Keddy; D Baker, S Geoghegan. Subs: Campbell for Doolin (57 mins).

ST PATRICK'S: Woods; Croly, McGuinness, Lynch, Doyle; Prederville, Harte, Hawkins, Russell, McNevin; Molloy. Subs: Hallows for Prenderville (half-time); Gormley and Broughan for Doyle and Russell (77 mins).

Referee: P McKeon (Dublin).