James Keddy celebrated his 27th birthday with two second-half goals as Shelbourne cruised to perhaps their most comfortable victory on the way to a first championship in eight years.
Their manager Dermot Keely glowed with satisfaction afterwards safe in the knowledge that his side need just one point from their remaining four games to surely rubber stamp their success. "I think we can manage that," Keely said.
That point may come as soon as Tuesday week in a re-arranged game at home to Drogheda United, assuming there is no replay of Shelbourne's FAI Cup semi-final with Galway United.
This was scarcely a contest as Shelbourne, in Keely's words, didn't need to get out of second gear to beat a decimated Sligo team.
Fielding an all-local team for the first time in over a decade, nine of whom were under-21, Sligo's selection problems all but mirrored their dreadful season which appears likely to end in relegation.
Sligo's difficulties received no sympathy on the pitch from Shelbourne as they followed the scent of their deserved title with a clinical display in which they restricted Sligo to just one shot on goal.
A drab start on a soft pitch was sparked to life with a goal in the first direct attack of the game on 12 minutes.
Stephen Geoghegan worked the ball to Keddy on the left and his cross was thoughtfully controlled first time by Dessie Baker before he picked his spot to find the bottom corner of Nicky Broujos's net with a right foot shot from 20 yards.
Sligo's house of cards continued its collapse two minutes later when the back-tracking Sean Flannery, the wrong side of Owen Heary, pulled the Shelbourne defender down inside the area leaving Geoghegan to send Broujos the wrong way from the penalty to all but end the game as a contest before it had hardly begun.
As if it really mattered to the inevitable outcome, Keddy added the third goal when sliding the ball beyond Broujos after a clever one-two with fellow birthday boy Paul Doolin on 68 minutes.
A simple tap-in brought the fourth after Pat Fenlon's header from a Dessie Baker cross fell for Keddy six minutes from time.
SLIGO ROVERS: Broujos; Davey, McLynn, Rossiter, Lynch, Marshall; Kennedy, O'Grady, Gilroy, Flannery, Shannon. Subs: Callaghan for Rossiter (48 mins), Oates for Flannery (68 mins).
SHELBOURNE: Williams; Heary, Scully, McCarthy, Hutchison; R Baker, Doolin, Fenlon, Keddy; D Baker, S Geoghegan. Subs: Campbell for Scully (69 mins), D Geoghegan for Hutchison (75 mins).
Referee: J Feighery (Dublin).
Bluebell United took full advantage of St Mary's disadvantage of being reduced to 10 men in yesterday's FAI Intermediate Cup final replay at Turner's Cross. St Mary's goalkeeper Malcolm Stokes was dismissed for a challenge on Alan Behan after only 10 minutes. Without a substitute goalkeeper St Mary's were forced to press Roy Sweeney into action and his first action was to pick the ball out of the net after Behan himself converted the kick.
Brendan Wynne added the second when he expertly killed the ball on his chest before driving low to the corner of the net to effectively finish this game as a contest. Behan then grabbed his second to give Bluebell their fourth Intermediate Cup title.
