Drogheda Utd - 1 Shelbourne - 3: Shelbourne may have arrived in Drogheda last night chasing their ninth straight win in the league but before the game got under way the locals pointed with a mixture of hope and scepticism to the fact that all but one of the victories had come at Tolka Park while none had been earned against one of the league leaders' serious rivals for this year's title.

For the second time this season, though, Pat Fenlon's side got the better of Paul Doolin's. And this win, at least in the second half, was much more emphatic than the one secured by the Dubliners back in May.

With the boys from IK Start looking on from the stand, the home side conceded almost as many goals as they had done in their previous 15 league outings, while Shelbourne brought their own recent strike-rate to a remarkable 20 goals in just five games.

Their first on this occasion, a penalty kick from Stuart Byrne, came against the run of play, but over the second-half they were comfortably the better side.

Both in midfield and defence they came out well on top, and their win, sealed with second-half goals from Ollie Cahill and Owen Heary, leaves United with a six-point gap to close on the Dubliners over the second half of the season.

More alarming from Doolin's point of view, however, will have been the way his normally solid defence was opened up as soon as his side was obliged to start chasing the game.

United had certainly made the better start but encountered stiff resistance.

Seán Dillon and Colin Hawkins looked consistently solid in the centre, while out wide Dave Rogers and particularly Owen Heary proved highly effective at taking possession of the ball and pushing their side forward out of defence.

The pair's distribution was generally good but on one occasion Rogers played his side into trouble with a crossfield ball that Shane Robinson read and intercepted easily.

It was a promising position for the home side but as the former Shamrock Rovers player sought to skip past Hawkins the defender took him down. There were furious protests but the referee waved play on and Shelbourne broke upfield and promptly won a corner, which Joseph Ndo took.

The corner kick looked to have been cleared but as it passed Simon Webb the United left back inexplicably put out an arm and made contact. The assistant was just a few metres away and Shelbourne were awarded a penalty, which, after Jason Byrne's recent miss against Odense, Stuart Byrne coolly pushed past Dan Connor.

It was a cruel blow to United, who while not dominant had done more to create scoring chances in the previous 34 minutes. Eamon Zayed had gone closest for the home side with a neat sidestep and shot that flew over from just inside the area. But Paul Keegan had forced Dean Delaney into a save from long-range while the Shelbourne goalkeeper might have counted himself fortunate a goalmouth scramble did not end with the former Bray Wanderers striker netting from close range.

The goalkeeper was replaced at the break, apparently suffering from a headache and blurred vision, and Doolin's side really must have wished they had capitalised.

Instead they trailed by one at the end of the first half and put enough emphasis on the pursuit of an equaliser during 15 minutes of the second to get caught again, Crowe this time chasing down Heary's ball and turning Jason Gavin magnificently before setting up the unmarked Ollie Cahill for the goal.

Heary then added the best of the night himself, driving past Connor and into the top-left corner from more than 30 metres when the angle is taken into account.

Even the United fans applauded this one and though they were cheered somewhat by Stephen Bradley's late consolation spot kick after Bobby Ryan had pulled back Stephen Gray, few could have been questioning Shelbourne's quality as they filed back out of United Park at the end of the game.

It's hard to see things going quite so badly for Drogheda in next week's Uefa Cup tie.

But Doolin observed after Monday's flying trip to Norway to see Start in action, that they represent a considerable step-up in quality on HJK Helsinki.

If he is right then, on the strength of this performance at least, his side do have a good deal of work to do between now and Thursday.

DROGHEDA UNITED: Connor; Shelley, Gavin, Gartland, Webb; Whelan, Lynch (Bradley, 71 mins), Keegan, Robinson (Gray, 80 mins); Zayed (Barrett, 65 mins), Grant.

SHELBOURNE: Delaney (Williams, half-time); Heary, Hawkins, Dillon (Harris, 85 mins), Rogers; Ryan, Ndo, S Byrne, Cahill; J Byrne (O'Neill, 78 mins), Crowe.

Referee: A Kelly (Cork).