the league in 1962 and only illness to three key players as a result of vaccinations taken on a League of Ireland representative trip to Italy cost Shelbourne the FAI Cup and a first 'double' as they went down to Shamrock Rovers in the final despite being red-hot favourites. The FAI Cup was however won the following year and it was a repeat of the 1960 final. A 2–0 win over Cork Hibs. With this success came the excitement of European club football, Shelbourne played their first European match against Sporting Clube de Portugal in 1962, they were beaten 2–0 in the first leg held at Dalymount Park and then 5–1 in Portugal to go out 7–1 on aggregate. The following season they took on FC Barcelona in the European Cup Winners' Cup but were beaten 5–1 on aggregate. In 1963 Shelbourne won another Leinster Senior Cup. In 1964 the club finally sold their last interest in Irishtown Stadium. Shelbourne won their first European game & tie in the 1964–65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, after the first leg resulted in a 0–0 draw and the second leg finished 1–1, Shelbourne won a playoff match against Portuguese side Belenenses, the following round they were eliminated 2–0 on aggregate by Atlético Madrid. On 19 November 1967 in a match between Shelbourne and rivals Bohemians, Shelbourne player Jimmy O'Connor set the record for the world's fastest hat-trick in top tier domestic league history. O'Connor scored three goals in 2 minutes and 13 seconds in Dalymount Park. Shelbourne won the Leinster Senior Cup in 1968. In the years that followed, televised highlights of English football began to be broadcast into Ireland and the crowds around most of the league grounds plummeted. Clubs in the league came under huge financial pressure, players left for England at a younger age, grounds became derelict, and media coverage almost disappeared. Decline in the seventies and eighties: 1970–1989 There was a bright enough start to the seventies as Athlone Town were beaten in the Shield final second replay, a win that would see the Reds enter the new UEFA Cup the following season. However, it was to be the last trophy the club would win for some time apart from their Leinster Senior Cup win in 1972. Cork Hibs beat Shels in the replay of the 1973 FAI Cup Final in Flower Lodge-the only time the final was ever played