SHELBOURNE were savouring a sweet success at Tolka Park last night after Brian Flood's quality goal had earned them a place in Friday's draw for the second round of the Harp FAI Cup.

Familiarity has not diluted the sense of fulfilment which derives from such achievement and now as they celebrated a fifth win in their last six meetings with Shamrock Rovers, Damien Richardson, their manager, was suitably elated.

For much of the second half Rovers were often the more positive side as they pushed forward in search of the scoring power which has eluded them so consistently this season.

At that stage, however, Shelbourne were content to hold what they had after Flood produced the goal which deserved to separate the teams at the finish.

Inevitably Tony Sheridan had a significant role in the build up.

Taking David Smith's difficult pass under control, he got to the back line before pulling the ball back for Flood to volley home from the edge of the penalty area in the 23rd minute.

Rovers never quite got their game together going forward and for all their persistence in, the second half they rarely caused the opposition much trouble.

The exception, perhaps, was in the 70th minute when Alan Gough, under pressure from Karl Gannon, missed the cross from John Toal, but on a night when little went right for the visitors, there was nobody up to capitalise.

After the game, a section of Rovers' frustrated supporters were chanting for the resignation of manager, Ray Treacy, while only a couple of weeks ago they were applauding the team's renaissance under Treacy.

On this occasion, however, they never revealed any fluency in midfield where Toal's impressive work-rate was no substitute for the lack of genuine class in the line. Terry Eviston worked hard up front, but, in a situation in which Mick Neville and his partner Ray Duffy were giving little away in the centre of Shelbourne's defence, scoring chances were remarkably few.

It all contrasted sharply with the quality of the winners' mid-field skills in the first half. Then Gary Howlett was often quite brilliant and with David Tilson also putting in some good runs, Shelbourne were not flattered by their halftime lead.

Richardson's decision to sit back and protect it in the second half was fraught with some risk but thanks to Neville and Rovers' frailties in their opponent's penalty area, it eventually paid dividends.

Shelbourne had already caused some apprehension among Rovers supporters on at least three occasions when Flood strode forward to kill the notion that his was purely a defensive role.

David Tilson, forced to depart with a hamstring injury before half time, was twice close to the breakthrough, the second time after Flood had laid the pass invitingly in his path.

Sheridan, involved in almost everything that mattered at that stage, might have scored from Howlett's pass before Simon Geoghegan was guilty of one of the evening's worst misses in the 30th minute.

Tilson's industry, enriched by a flash of vintage skill by Howlett, left the striker with a clear run on goal but Geoghegan pushed the shot wide of the far post.

Rovers had scarcely mounted an attack of substance during the opening 45-minutes but their second half performance produced two commendable efforts by John Toal.

After a rare lapse in concentration by Mick Neville had plunged Shelbourne into danger, Toal saw his first shot strike Ray Duffy's head in the 55th minute and when he again made clean contact four minutes later, he was unlucky to find Gough perfectly positioned for the save.