When these sides met in Tallaght a month ago, Jake Mulraney’s stunning long-range strike to rescue a point changed the course of St Patrick’s Athletic’s season. In this return meeting, it was an effort of similar quality from Trevor Clarke that emphatically halted their momentum.

This punchy derby was finely poised at the midway point of the second half, with the champions a goal ahead but going through a rocky patch when a Jamie Lennon effort fizzed narrowly wide.

From the restart, Hoops left wing-back Clarke seized on a loose ball to embark on a mazy run that concluded with a thunderbolt that gave Dean Lyness no chance and confirmed that Stephen Bradley’s side would leapfrog their southside neighbours to take third spot. For the away support, it delivered a happy ending to a stressful week.

If it had gone in a different direction, this encounter might have functioned as Jack Byrne’s farewell to the Hoops. Instead, the club rejected offers from Charlotte which mean the playmaker will remain a central part of Bradley’s four-in-a-row tilt. The 26-year-old must now decide whether to agree a new contract in Tallaght or wait to see what doors open if he maintains his current form; the presence of Stephen Kenny in the stands adds another angle to that although the Dubliner could just as easily have been checking in on the development of Neil Farrugia.

Byrne was bright from the outset here, although he did have his pocket picked in the early exchanges by Adam Murphy, the 18-year-old St Patrick’s Athletic midfielder who is only at the start of his football journey.

Time moves fast. Before the game, there was a presentation to mark Chris Forrester’s 300th appearance for the Saints, and he was gifted an early opportunity to break the deadlock. Pico Lopes was alert to the danger and was able to execute a block with Forrester uncharacteristically slow to react.

There were chances at both ends in an entertaining opening, yet there was a sense that Rovers always fancied stretching an understrength Saints rearguard with Tim Clancy missing three centre-halves.

The breakthrough goal came from an unlikely source, a superb Byrne-style through ball from Rovers defender Lee Grace, who won possession off Jason McClelland and picked a pass for Johnny Kenny to race into space and drill a right-footer beyond Lyness. Saints left-back Anto Breslin and left centre-half Jay McGrath weren’t on the same wavelength.

Rovers could have added to their advantage when Dan Cleary glanced a header narrowly wide from a brilliant Byrne delivery; there was almost a carbon copy at the other end when Forrester was inches away from Mulraney’s teaser.

Rovers would argue they were value for their lead, but the Saints had reason to enter the second half feeling they were capable of hurting their guests.

That belief was justified by a spell of pressure, with Mulraney testing Alan Mannus although there was a major scare at the other end when Lyness produced a brilliant save to deny Kenny. But the Saints were really starting to ask questions in the spell that culminated with Lennon’s near-miss.

Clarke’s rapid response removed suspense in an instant.

St Patrick’s Athletic – Lyness, Curtis, Lewis, McGrath, Breslin; Murphy (Timmermans 72); McClelland (M Doyle 72), Lennon, Forrester, Mulraney (Sjoberg 86); E Doyle (Carty 72).

Shamrock Rovers – Mannus, Cleary, Lopes, Grace; Farrugia, O’Neill (Nugent 90), Poom, Clarke (Finn 79); Byrne (Noonan 90), Burke (Towell 90); Kenny (Greene 79).

Ref – Rob Hennessy