A CROWD of 7,000 witnessed the rebirth of Ian Rush at Tolka Park last night. But it was his partner Brian Deane who stole Rush's thunder when he opened the Leeds scoring with a low shot that keeper Alan Gough was slow to react to.

However, the former Liverpool striker did not take long to make his mark, when a shot from the left hand side of the box took an unfortunate deflection off Shelbourne centre half Derek Brazil.

Clearly, the heat and a constant barrage of Leeds pressure was taking its toll on Damian Richardson's men, who nearly suffered the embarrassment of going three goals down when a Brian Deane shot went narrowly wide.

And they were equally lucky to survive another Leeds attack shortly before the break when Andy Gray fired across the face of the goal.

Chances were few and far between at either end after the break, with perhaps the most memorable moment coming in the 64th minute when Howard Wilkinson substituted practically his entire team, with just Deane and Carlton Palmer remaining on the pitch.