Afterwards Dave Barry was as upbeat as ever, but it must be getting difficult to keep putting on a brave face. Three weeks ago Cork City led St Patrick's Athletic, but now, after picking up just two points from nine, they trail them by four. Try as he might, Barry's plucky talk about how his side is doing well to be up there as the sole challengers to the champions rings just a little hollow.

All the more so because in each of those last three games City have surrendered a lead. Yesterday, with 10 minutes to go, they were two up and looked just about certain to cart off all three points. But with half the St Patrick's team looking on from the stands, they chucked two of them away.

Barry is also anxious to point out that there are plenty of points still to play for, but they need to start showing the steel they showed over the first third of the season during the run-in if they are stand a serious chance of retaking the lead from their increasingly confident-looking rivals.

To be fair to Shelbourne, they put an awful start behind them yesterday to make it hard for their visitors. Having come off worst in an early exchange of comedy goals, they pulled themselves together and got the point they deserved for their industry.

Dermot Keely wasn't reading too much into it, though. "Another fire brigade action," the Shelbourne manager sighed, after throwing Pat Scully forward and switching to the use of wing backs in the hope of salvaging something. It worked and there was the bonus of some decent individual performances, but the Shelbourne manager certainly wasn't making any extravagant claims for a side whose season will be more or less over if they don't beat Bohemians this Friday night to make the quarter-finals of the Cup.

Cork hadn't particularly outclassed the Dublin club to earn their 3-1 advantage. Two of the goals owed a good deal to luck. Colin O'Brien's half cross, half shot somehow bounced over a diving Alan Gough in the sixth minute while Kelvin Flanagan's successfully converted penalty arrived after Scully brought down John Caulfield 12 minutes later.

Their third, though, which was well finished by Pat Morley after good work down the left by Ollie Cahill and Flanagan, suggested that they had what it takes to capitalise on their good fortune. They surely would have done had Colin O'Brien picked out a team-mate rather than a defender a few minutes later after he broke clean away down the right-hand side.

Aside from Shelbourne's first goal, a fine Tony Sheridan effort, set up by Paul Doolin after some terribly ponderous defending on the edge of the area, City did at least look to be the better side defensively. Sheridan's ingenuity and Pat Fenlon's distribution ensured that the Dublin club's approach work was neater, but Noel Mooney's back four coped well with whatever came their way until the closing stages.

When Scully made his anticipated appearance in their midst, though, everything started to go a bit awry for Dave Hill and co. Patsy Freyne was tiring badly in front of them, and combined with Sheridan's reversion to his preferred role in central midfield, the home team were getting the upper hand.

There still wasn't much excuse for Shelbourne's second. An over-hit cross from the right was well controlled by Dessie Baker, but City's failure to close him down or to mark Fenlon in the six-yard box meant that they more or less got what they deserved when the former chipped in and the latter headed low past the helpless Mooney.

When Sheridan set up Stephen Geoghegan for a header which the striker directed straight at the Cork keeper a few minutes later it seemed as though Barry's side might still hang on. With just seconds remaining, however, the pair combined again and Geoghegan knocked the ball high across the goal and Scully rose powerfully to steer the cross home.

Shelbourne: Gough; Costello, Scully, McCarthy, D Geoghegan; Heery, Doolin, Fenlon, R Baker; Kelly, Sheridan. Subs: D Baker and S Geoghegan for Heery and Kelly (57 mins), Fitzgerald for Doolin (68 mins).

Cork City: Mooney; Daly, Coughlan, Hill, Cronin; O'Brien, Flanagan, Freyne, Cahill; Caulfield, Morley. Subs: Dobbs for Caulfield (60 mins), Herrick for Morley (87 mins).

Referee: J Stacey (Athlone).