Damien Duff hit out at Shelbourne’s flat derby performance and claims his side handed victory to St Pat’s.
Sam Curtis headed home the only goal early in the second-half to seal victory for the Saints who moved up to fourth and ended Shels’ eight-game unbeaten run.
Duff’s side huffed and puffed but failed to carve out any clear cut chances and Saints goalkeeper Dean Lyness had a quiet night.
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“I was expecting a real excitement about our play, being where we are in the league, ahead of St Pat's, live on TV, the pitch is beautiful, a beautiful evening,’ said Duff.
“Why wouldn't you be excited? But there was a flatness I'll never get to the bottom of.
“I don't think they've done anything outside of a worked set piece, our good old friend, to win the game.
“Outside of that we've handed the game on a platter to them. I was happy enough with the first half, we just lacked that cutting edge at the top end of the pitch.
“I was hoping we would get that in the second half but we just flatlined in the second half and it spread like a cancer.”
Duff continued: “The crowd got the most excited - which speaks volumes about our performance - when they saw seven minutes added on, even me I was like 'ok'.
“Outside of that, the players, myself, we gave Tolka Park nothing to shout about.
“We had moments but you need to be cut throat when it's 3 v 2 or 4 v 3 in attacking at real speed but there was a real scruffiness about us.
“I’m not hanging anyone out, but there was just a real flatness about the whole team, the whole squad, even the subs coming on.
“It was a lack of belief, waiting on your friend to do something, when you could grab the bull by the horns and do something. A poor display and it's really disappointing.”
Duff only gives his players a full weekend off once every six weeks but this happens to be one of them.
And when they return to training on Monday, he insists nobody will dwell on this performance as they size up Friday’s derby clash with Bohemians at Dalymount Park.
Long-term injury absentees Sean Boyd and Gavin Molloy are back and available for selection against the Gypsies, although starts are unlikely just yet.
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