It couldn't last, of course. These two had to produce a dud at some stage this season, but in a game which clearly lacked the passion or intensity of any of their other most recent encounters, content, rather than contempt seemed to be the primary product of this pair's familiarity.

Neither side, it seemed obvious, wanted to lose, and so, while we had been treated twice over the previous week to them going hell for leather, this contest was played out at a far more leisurely pace. Still, the tension, which manifested itself in the many mistakes made by both sides as they attempted to build the passing move required to get them into the danger zone, was clear to see.

"It wasn't a fantastic game," remarked Pat Dolan with perhaps just a touch more understatement than he generally manages. "But Shelbourne would have gone five points clear if they had won tonight, and that meant that there was a degree of anxiety for both teams out there which affected the way the game went."

The passing, he admitted, had been poor, as had been the overall pattern of the game; players so inventive a week earlier this time struggled to come up with anything which might in any way be described as creative.

"It's not that the players went out to pass poorly," added the home side's boss, "but sometimes that just happens. The fact is that we wanted to win that game more than we wanted to win the cup games, but, as it happens, we got off to a slow start and never really recovered.

"In the circumstances, we're disappointed with the performance but happy with the result."

As he did on Monday night, Dolan's opposite number, Damien Richardson, more or less agreed with the assessment.

If the corner count was to be believed, then the Saints had had the better of the first period. But the 6-0 tally was scarcely a fair reflection of the game's balance early on. In truth, each team had much the same amount of possession and did equally little of note with it. Even the corners were fairly poor, and it seemed at times as though neither goalkeeper would be called on to do any more than leap high to take a floated cross.

Admittedly there were a couple of chances, but at half-time it was impossible to think of a better one than Liam Kelly's run back in the fifth minute. The 22-year-old had pushed his way past Trevor Wood and a couple of defenders, only to push the ball on too far and see Colin Hawkins clear off the line. Had it gone in then, "scramble" would have been closer to the truth than "scorcher".

But as it was, that was as good as it got until Mark Rutherford's shot from 15 yards was deflected wide for a corner more than an hour later.

It was some time even after that, however, before the crowd of nearly 4,000 was treated to what might reasonably be described as a save. Alan Gough had been well positioned to block Thomas Morgan's shot in the 76th minute, but it wasn't until three minutes from time that he had to hit the deck in order to stop a shot. Eddie Gormley finally forced him to get his knees dirty with a low, driven shot after a short free kick.

Not much to get worked up about, but then two out of three, as they say, ain't bad, and come Monday at Tolka Park the ratio could always improve when, it is to be hoped, normal service between these two will be resumed.

St Patrick's Athletic: Wood; Campbell, Lynch, Hawkins, Doyle; Morgan, Croly, Gormley; Braithwaite, Gilzean, Reilly. Subs: Devereux for Reilly (75 mins).

Shelbourne: Gough; Costello, McCarthy, Neville, Smith; Sheridan, Campbell, Fenlon, Rutherford; S Geoghegan, Kelly. Subs: Baker and Fitzgerald for Campbell and Kelly (88 mins).

Referee: J Feighery (Dublin).

Under-achieving Portadown players have been warned by chairman Roy McMahon they will be expected to deliver in this afternoon's Irish Cup quarterfinal with Linfield at Windsor Park.

Chairman McMahon and his board of directors are dissatisfied with the manner in which Portadown have dropped out of Irish League Premier Division title contention.

Portadown are in danger of going through a second successive season without winning a trophy.