The talk in both camps had been about this being the perfect way to kick of the campaign and last night at Tolka Park they showed that they knew what they were on about. Shelbourne, at one stage, could have been four up, Rovers at the end might well have won it.
As for the rest of us, well, by the time John Feighery sounded the final whistle it was quickly becoming a struggle just to take it all in.
Even by half-time all this game really needed was a single goal to mark it out as a cracker and Tony Sheridan reminded us five minutes into the second period sometimes a little bit of patience in that department is generously rewarded.
The former Coventry City man got the best indication yet of how new manager Dermot Keely sees him contributing this season when he was employed up front and Liam Kelly was dropped back in behind him into the centre of midfield. The move worked for the 24 year-old.
After hitting the bar in the first half he, with time to line up the shot early in the second period, curled through the box to strike the woodwork again, the ball spun straight back across behind a stunned Robbie Horgan and into the bottom right corner.
Had the goal been the difference between the sides it would have been a worthy winner but at this stage the home side seemed intent on driving home to their tenants just what how good you have to be to earn the reputation of genuine title contenders.
Within a few minutes Tony McCarthy made it two and Pat Morley went within a whisper of adding a third with just over a quarter of an hour remaining. By now the slight advantages that Shelbourne had enjoyed through the opening period were being transformed into far more considerable differences.
James Keddy, the latest of Keely's signings and one, presumably, that spells the end of Mark Rutherford's career at the club, may not have quite found his way on his debut, but Dessie Baker, ably backed up by Stephen Gifford, continued to cause all sorts of problems down the right while Sheridan's willingness to drop deep and Pat Fenlon's work in the centre were all starting to make this look like a bit of a canter.
Then, almost inexplicably, it all slipped away. Shelbourne conceded two goals in the last five minutes and Keely must have been grateful that there wasn't enough left on the clock for this to become another Prenton Park. The introduction first of Sean Murray and Marc Kenny and then, with seven minutes remaining Brian Morrisroe had signalled a late gamble by Mick Byrne on salvaging something. Given how much defending his men had been doing for most of the game, though, and the amount of possession they had sloppily conceded inside their own half, it really didn't look like amounting to more than throwing down his few remaining chips and hoping for the best on the spin of the wheel.
It was a free from Kenny that started the fightback. Richie Purdy headed the ball back into the centre from where Jason Sherlock redirected it towards the top left corner. Murray then added the equaliser. Purdy this time beating the offside trap with his through ball before the young substitute, his chance having apparently passed curled a shot across the face of the goal and in off the left hand post.
Shelbourne: Gough; Gifford, Scully, Mccarthy, D Geoghegan; D Baker, Kelly, Fenlon, Keddy; Sheridan, Morley (R Baker 80).
Shamrock Rovers: Horgan; Britton, Whelan, Brazil, Dunne (Morrisroe 83); Woods (Kenny 66), Purdy, Colwell, Tracey; Cousins (Murray 66), Sherlock.
Referee: J Feighery (Dublin).
