Spare a thought for defending champions

Well, well, well. Suddenly there's life in the old dog. Two points from nine and St Patrick's Athletic have been toppled from the top of the table. Shelbourne take over the running and a couple of the others contenders don't seem all that far off the pace. This could, after all, turn out to be one of the more exciting run ins in recent years.

The Saints should, of course, have beaten Sligo on Friday night, they had the majority of possession, moved the ball around more effectively and created more chances but then finishing is at least as great a part of the game as any other and on that score Rovers won the day hands down.

Clearly disappointed afterwards Pat Dolan nevertheless admitted that there had been other occasions in the campaign so far when his side had, perhaps, been a little fortunate to win and this had simply been one of those occasions when things balanced themselves out a bit. Sligo too probably reckoned it was about time that lady luck dealt them a winning hand.

Shelbourne, meanwhile, continued to build their challenge upon their ability to score goals. How it must have frustrated them in recent months to keep on winning and then be so comprehensively beaten at home by St Patrick's last month. Still, 10 goals in three games has finally done the trick for them.

If those two, Cork and the one or two others who still retain even the faintest glimmer of hope that they can win this championship, are still trying desperately to figure out how to do it, spare a thought for a moment for Derry City, yet another in the long line of defending champions that have fallen by the wayside over the course of the following season.

City, hardly flattered by their 10 point margin at the top of last season's table, slipped up again when beaten 1-0 by Shamrock Rovers at home on Saturday and are now looking to the Cup to salvage something from this season and while their first round tie, at home to Rockmount, shouldn't present an insurmountable challenge, they are far from certainties to reach the latter stages of the competition.

City's problems had, of course, been foreseen by many before this campaign got under way. With a small squad, they were extremely fortunate to get through last year without ever coming down with more than a couple of injuries or suspensions at any one time.

This season that luck deserted them.

Last week at Dalymount Park, where Felix Healy, finally conceded that the title was beyond them, the team they fielded contained just five of last season's regulars while the bench was occupied by three 16-year-olds.

Of the championship winning team Paul Heggarty, Liam Coyle, Gavin Dykes and Tom Mohan were unavailable for one reason or another, Tommy Dunne and Peter Hutton had been sold and Robbie Brunton - brought in to replace Dunne - was also laid up. The Influential James Keddy has also just returned after a lengthy layoff through injury.

Healy put the blame, in no small measure, on the club's involvement in the international tournament at Lansdowne Road and the prequalifying round of the Champions' League. The City boss had seen even the latter competition as little more than a beano for his boys and so it was always difficult to see him, once a successful title defence was out of the question, killing himself or his players to qualify for something like the Intertoto Cup which, even after being reorganised this year, is unlikely to prove especially rewarding to participants.

Still it was a surprise to most observers when Hutton went. When Dunne and Richie Purdy had been sold in the close season the reason given had been the club's continuing preference for relying on local talent where possible. Hutton's departure, on the other hand, could only be explained by a need for money or judgment on Healy's part that the player simply wasn't up to it. The player himself certainly didn't want to go.

Now those who think that Hutton was a little fortunate to get the Player of the Year award last season are not exactly in short supply around Foyleside but the big Dublin clubs seemed to think the midfielder was worth a bid with both St Patrick's and Shelbourne making bids.

In the end whether the £35,000 City received for him from Portadown ends up looking like good business remains, very much, to be seen. Around £16,000 of it was promptly spent again on Scottish midfielder Craig Taggart who will fly in on a weekly basis until the end of the season and then, it is hoped, move to the North.

Taggart started slowly at Dalymount although that hardly proves much, nevertheless he will need to do well if Healy's gamble is to pay off. His home debut over the weekend against Shamrock Rovers was less than a happy affair.

In the wider context, Healy's admission that Hutton's sale arose out of a bid by Ronnie McFaul, made over the telephone for Heggarty, which developed into a conversation about what his fellow manager would give for a variety of other players would appear to be revealing about the state of play at the club just now.

Healy has made no bones about the fact that, in each of the seasons since he returned to the Brandywell, he has sought to significantly reduce the club's wage bill. This, he says, he has achieved on each occasion. To win the league two years into that process makes the achievement all the more impressive. To still be under so much pressure to continue down that road after winning the biggest prize in the domestic game, the crowds at the club's games continued to decline last season and City desperately needed to beat Maribor (Turkish opposition and proverbial pile of television cash awaited in the next round) if they were to make serious money out of their success, says a good deal about the state of our game.

It will be a significant sign of progress if this season's champions fare much better.