SHELBOURNE...1 DERRY CITY...0: It may not have been the most memorable of victories, but a fine second-half goal by Glen Fitzpatrick was enough to give Pat Fenlon's men the win over Derry City last night and - with results elsewhere - extend Shelbourne's lead at the top of the table to five points.

With the home side having suffered a surprise 3-0 defeat at the hands of Rovers last week this mightn't have seemed the most opportune of times for Gavin Dykes to bring his struggling City side to Tolka Park.

Before kick-off, the visitors could certainly have been forgiven if they feared ending up on the end of a bit of a backlash from a side that performed so poorly in their last league outing.

Instead, they started tamely and it was City who made almost all of the early running in what was a scrappy contest that produced little enough by way of flowing football early on.

Had Gary Beckett had his finishing boots during the first half he would have given the visitors a decent lead by the break and, perhaps, enabled Dykes to relax just a little through what was clearly an anxious second 45 minutes for him.

Just short of the quarter hour, Beckett forced Steve Williams into making a decent save low to the goalkeeper's right and, during the prolonged spell of City dominance that followed, he narrowly missed the target another couple of times. His greatest offence of the evening, though, was when he chose to have a shot himself 19 minutes in when Peter Hutton was better placed and frantically calling for the ball just outside him.

The champions rode their luck just a little at times, notably when Williams blocked Seán Hargan's close-range shot with his feet, but, over the course of the half, City's missed chances prompted the suspicion that the visitors might end up with a hard-luck story to tell by the end.

Sure enough, the balance had started to shift before the break and 13 minutes after it the visitors fell behind when they were opened up by a fine Jason Byrne pass played, on the turn, for Glen Fitzpatrick who did well after out-running Paddy McLaughlin to beat Patrick Jennings from just inside the area.

Though the hosts rarely threatened to build on their advantage during the time that remained, they did manage to exert much more control over things, particularly across the centre where the visitors were eventually forced to abandon the five-man midfield they had adopted early on.

After coming on for Ciarán Martyn 11 minutes from time, Alan Murphy produced his side's only serious crack at an equaliser when, after some neat work 25 yards out, he struck a fine shot that Williams did well to push over.

By then, Dykes would surely have regarded a draw as something of a blessing, but his hopes of securing even a single point slipped away during the eight minutes that remained as Shelbourne rather easily maintained their grip on all three.

SHELBOURNE: Williams; Heary, Harris (McDermott, 32 mins), McCarthy, Crawley; Cawley (Morgan, 55 mins), S Byrne, Crawford, Cahill; Fitzpatrick (McCarthy, 90 mins), J Byrne.

DERRY CITY: Jennings; Brennan, Delaney, McLaughlin, McCallion; Hutton, Byrne, Doherty, Martyn (Murphy, 79 mins); Beckett, Hargan.

Referee: A Kelly (Cork).