FOR 40 minute's at a rainswept Tolka Park last night, Shelbourne's season seemed to be up and running. Two up and coasting, they gave Derry City a glimmer of an opening and Felix Healy's team made the most of it to prise away a point that had looked completely beyond them.
Limited they may be, though the more Liam Coyle is brought into proceedings the better their football, Derry are at least hugely spirited. As they showed against Bohemians, when plundering a last minute equaliser from seemingly another lost cause last month, they keep going until the end.
Derry will have enjoyed their journey home last night and will feel they deserved their reward, but Shelbourne will probably rue this forfeited two points more than any other this season. For the first time this season, Damien Richardson was able to select the same team (not that he had much choice) as that which hammered Bray and, with the benefit of another early goal, another fairly routine win appeared theirs when they doubled their lead after 27 minutes.
The home team's football was bright and positive, and Derry were creating nothing. But an untimely ankle ligament injury to Greg Costello saw the Shelbourne full back endeavour to play on until half time, in which time Derry struck.
Gradually, Derry wore Shelbourne down and the home side buckled at the seams. Shelbourne's disappointment will have been compounded by the late dismissal of Derry old boy Pascal Vaudequin.
The Frenchman's parting of the ways with Derry emanated to a degree from Healy's public critique of Vaudequin's crossing. The full back, here playing on the right side of midfield, created both Shelbourne's goals with a couple of peaches.
But temperatures began to rise between him and James Keddy in the second period in a running feud which culminated in their fourth successive "collision" Keddy swinging an aim at Vaudequin (but not connecting) whereupon the Shelbourne player pushed his head into Keddy's face and was promptly sent off by Dick O'Hanlon.
It had all begun so brightly for Vaudequin. He had initiated a sweet move containing two one twos with Tony Sheridan and Pat Morley and four first time passes from inside his own half, ending with a centre which Stephen Geoghegan converted with a 15 yard header inside the near post past a flat footed Tony O'Dowd.
Then, after 27 minutes Vaudequin returned a cleared corner with a slanting cross which Morley converted at the far post with another header.
Mick Neville and Sheridan tested O'Dowd from distance and Derry still hadn't manufactured one shot. But five minutes before the break, Peter Hutton (playing in behind lone striker Coyle) outmuscled Riordan to play the ball into the space vacated by a hobbling Costello and filled by Keddy, Coyle cleverly providing the link for Tom Mohan to score.
Shelbourne had let go of the gear stick and, as always, it's difficult to just move back into top speed. Despite a rash of six corners within 15 minutes of the restart, Derry still weren't creating that much in the way of clear openings, though Coyle was starting to drift towards the left in linking up with Tommy Dunne and Keddy to telling effect.
Increasingly, the traffic was all coming down that lane, Dunne combining with Keddy to provide a cross to the far post where Mohan was denied by Alan Gough's reflex save on 62 minutes.
Sure enough, another Dunne, cross from half way was miskicked by Neville, enabling Coyle to control the ball and score his first goal of the season with some aplomb when tucking his shot inside Gough's right upright.
Back came Shelbourne. Riordan's powerful header from a Rutherford cross being headed off the line by the alert Dunne, the home team's frustration manifesting itself in a booking for Dave Campbell.
