Shrewd dealings gave Dolan the championship edge

He said all along that his was the best side in the country and on Friday night in Kilkenny, Pat Dolan's men were as good as his word. It was a nail-biting way for this league campaign to finish but in the end the best team won it and Shelbourne must simply accept that they have let another one get away from them.

Understandably emotional after his own side's performance, it's likely that Damien Richardson would rather forget his comments regarding the doubts hanging over some of his players' futures in the wake of the title slip-up. Normally so magnanimous in victory or defeat, the Shelbourne manager would surely prefer, in retrospect, to have avoided the implication that some of his men were to blame for what had happened.

In truth, they failed to perform as a team and Richardson himself contributed as much as anyone to his team's own downfall, primarily it would seem by opting to deploy Tony Sheridan out wide on the right until the dying minutes of the game.

The former Coventry City player has been in and out of the team over the past couple of months, with Richardson unwilling to accommodate him in the centre of his midfield and handing him instead, when he chose to involve him at all, a winger's role.

The problem has been, however, that Sheridan has not looked especially comfortable out by the touchline. Dessie Baker contributed more to the team there, while the greater freedom and more constant involvement of a central position seemed to suit his teammate.

But after reminding us all what he was capable of during the second half of the cup game in Ballybofey a few weeks ago, the 23-year-old should have been entrusted with the creative responsibilities in Oriel Park.

Richardson also talked after the match about the suspensions of Baker and Pat Fenlon and had a point when he lamented the fact that five bookings over the course of a whole season could earn them suspensions at such a vital stage of the season.

Winning is all about having a squad of players capable of seeing you through every hazard, - injuries, suspensions, loss of form - not simply the best 11 players at your disposal. And on the basis of these factors, it turned out, Inchicore was the right place for the title to go.

Had Shelbourne won in Oriel then, quite simply, they would have deserved to top the table. There was next to nothing between the two teams (although I would still maintain that it was they, at their best early on, who produced the best football I saw this season) but, contrary to the predictions from the Shelbourne camp, the leaders' nerve let them down. Now they must put their disappointment behind them in time for Sunday's FAI Cup final when a victory would go some way towards healing the pain of Friday night. It would also send them into the Cup Winners' Cup with the greatly enhanced prospects it offers of meeting some attractive foreign opposition.

Cork City, who have beaten Bohemians, Derry and Sligo on the way to the final, will undoubtedly be tough opponents but Shelbourne have just about had the better of their meetings in the league this season, winning once and drawing twice, and, despite Friday's disappointment, they finished 14 points above them in the final Premier Division table. As for St Patrick's, there is not much left to add to what Pat Dolan has been saying since the final whistle at Buckley Park. His insistence that his was the better side throughout the campaign is, like so much he says, born out of his love for his club and overlooks the fact that, with their occasional slip-ups at home and inability in recent weeks to win some games they dominated, his team is still some way short of being the finished article.

Nevertheless, his achievements, in his first full season in charge have been little short of astonishing, and those of his greatly expanded panel have been tremendous.

The cup quarter-final defeat by Shelbourne must have been a severe blow to morale and the team's form in the weeks immediately afterwards was not the best. The victory in Donegal, however, marked a final turning point and, although it seemed unlikely last week, Dolan's assertion that taking all 12 points from the last four games would be enough for the title was proven to be correct.

Taking them is something that everybody at the club deserves credit for, while there are some things for which Dolan alone would appear to be responsible. Several of his purchases during the close season were shown to be particularly astute over the course of the season while the addition of Ian Gilzean, released by Drogheda United with six games played, was little short of inspired.

Now it is up to Dolan to take St Patrick's on a stage. Having talked on so many occasions about the various ways in which the Irish game has let itself down, his side can begin to address one of the most pressing problems of the game here - our pathetic standing in Europe.

If St Patrick's Athletic start to persuade clubs on the continent that "Irish National League Champions" isn't shorthand for "easy path to second round of Champions League" then they will have done not only themselves proud but everyone who believes there is a future for the game here.