Cork City - 0 Shelbourne - 2 Denying he had any "previous" with the Dubliners in his programme notes, Pat Dolan asked what life would be like without Shelbourne. By the end of last night's difficult and disappointing Carlsberg-sponsored FAI Cup tie at Turner's Cross the answer was obvious.

If you are Dolan: a whole lot better.

Eight points adrift of Pat Fenlon's side in the league and not looking like they quite have the personnel yet to mount a sustained championship challenge, City could have done with a cup run to maintain their momentum into the latter stages of a season that has not reached the half way point. Instead they played only in patches and fell victim to two goals from Jason Byrne to go out of the cup at home for the fifth season in succession.

Since Dolan's arrival in the south, City had been unbeaten at home, but last night their problems started early. Stuart Byrne, in for Richie Baker on the right side of midfield, opened up the home side's defence with ease, and though Ger McCarthy seemed to needlessly rush his shot with an open path to goal in front of him, the striker did get enough power behind his low strike to force an error from Michael Devine. The goalkeeper's parry hopped nicely for Jason Byrne who turned the ball home from a couple of yards.

Having ended his long run without a goal last week against UCD, the former Bray Wanderers player looked brimming with confidence again last night and not long afterwards he did well to control a looping cross from the left before unleashing a fierce drive that was deflected inches wide of the left-hand post.

The locals were hardly being overwhelmed, though. Within 10 minutes, George O'Callaghan had seen a decent long-range effort float just over Steve Williams' bar, and on the half hour the striker forced the Welshman into a good save down low to his right.

The former Port Vale striker was behind City's best chance of the first half just four minutes before the break when he chipped a ball into the path of John O'Flynn who turned well before hitting a shot that Williams saved quite brilliantly.

In the scramble that followed Conor O'Grady went down and there were frantic appeals for a penalty, but there seemed to be precious little basis for the claim.

By then the game had developed into an open and entertaining if occasionally untidy contest between a City side that enjoyed a good deal of possession in midfield, from where they struggled to push forward to any real effect, and a Shelbourne team that repeatedly threatened to catch their hosts on the break.

Had Ger McCarthy been more careful with his passing the Dubliners might have had a couple more cracks at goal to show for some fine approach work, but Devine had relatively little to do.

Williams, on the other hand, was tested several times, with Alan Bennett forcing another full-length save with just about an hour gone, O'Callaghan's angled cross was this time the original source of the opportunity.

By this stage, Shelbourne's back four bore little resemblance to the one that has established itself as the league's best in recent months, with the central pairing, in particular, looking shaky under pressure from an increasingly determined home side that was enjoying its best spell of the night.

O'Flynn went close to grabbing an equaliser twice more, with first a long-range shot producing another fine stop and then an effort from inside the box prompting another goalmouth scramble.

It was thrilling stuff and the 6,000 strong Turner's Cross crowd were spending a good deal of time out of their seats. But with 18 minutes remaining the revival as well as the atmosphere fell suddenly flat when a badly underhit back pass by Bennett allowed Byrne to nip in for his second goal of the night.

Worse might have followed for the locals with a wonderful turn and lay off by Byrne almost setting long-time local favourite Cahill up for the visiting side's third. It would have been an unnecessarily cruel end to an already painful evening for the southerners.

CORK CITY: Devine; Horgan (Carey, 77 min), Bennett, D Murray, Woods; Doyle, O'Grady, CT O'Brien (CP O'Brien, 87 min), K Murray (Behan, 53 min); O'Callaghan, O'Flynn.

SHELBOURNE: Williams; Heary, Doherty, Rogers, Crawley; S Byrne (R Baker, 69 min), Morgan, Crawford, Cahill; McCarthy (Geoghegan, 87 mins, J Byrne.

Referee: J McDermott (Dublin)