National League Premier Division/ Shelbourne 1; Shamrock Rovers 0: A fax to Tolka Park before kick-off last night instructing Shelbourne that they couldn't play their new midfielder Alan Cawley until a dispute over his move from UCD is resolved provided a small reminder that the chaos that engulfed this league during the past few weeks still bubbles just under the surface.
On the pitch, though, game one of 36 could hardly have gone more smoothly for last season's champions with Pat Fenlon's side coasting to victory thanks to Jason Byrne's first of the new campaign.
The Rovers players, of course, could have been forgiven for not being overly familiar with each other yet and an opening night tussle with the league champions is not exactly the fairest way to assess how Liam Buckley's men will fare without the likes of Tony Grant, Tony O'Dowd and James Keddy.
The coach himself suggested before this game that they are something of a work in progress and that's much the way it looked last night with most of the stronger performances coming from the club's more established hands.
In defence, which is where the visitors saw most action, Terry Palmer picked up where he left off last season, turning in a controlled performance that went some way towards compensating for the fact that beside him Jason McGuinness, the newly arrived centre back who had shown his immense promise while at Bohemians last year, was struggling in his new surroundings.
To the evident distaste of the Rovers support, most of the under-21 international's problems were caused early on by Glen Fitzpatrick, whose close season move across the city has clearly not been forgiven by his former club's fans.
The 23-year-old looked lively and inventive from the outset last night and contributed a good deal over the course of the first half as the home side went within a matter of inches of beating Noel Mooney from close range after good build ups on four separate occasions.
Shelbourne's breakthrough, though, still came courtesy of Jason Byrne after 20 minutes with last year's leading scorer providing early evidence that he has lost none of his effectiveness around the area during the past four months.
David Crawley's well-judged corner from the right, combined with some poor marking inside the six-yard box, provided the striker with the half-chance, but his finish was excellent with Byrne having to turn the ball home as he dived away from the goal-line.
Buckley's players picked themselves up and battled on with considerable resolve, but when in possession it was always the home side that looked more composed.
Their efforts to push the ball around weren't helped much by the terribly poor state of the pitch, but they were consistently able to play their way through a weak and ineffective looking Rovers midfield.
If the visitors had a complaint at the end, it was that three minutes into the second period they might well have had a penalty when Trevor Molloy appeared to have been bundled over inside the area by Kevin Doherty.On balance, though, the score-line did nothing to flatter Shelbourne.
SHELBOURNE: Williams; Heary, Doherty, Harris, Crawley; McCarthy, S Byrne, Crawford, Rowe; J Byrne, Fitzpatrick.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Mooney; Gough, Palmer, McGuinness (Deans, 85 mins), Doyle; Robinson, McDonnell (Tracey, half-time), O'Halloran, Rutherford; Molloy, S Grant (Kelly, 36 mins).
Referee: E Barr (Dublin).
