MEASURED advances or gradual declines are rarely factors when it comes to assessing sporting performance.

Instead it is the one-off flashpoints that are more easily recalled, a career often condensed into a smattering of soaring highs or depressing lows. Thus, the seizing of a moment can cause an average or mediocre journeyman to be forever enshrined as a demi-god, while a stellar talent can have a reputation tarnished by a solitary day to forget.

Ask Boston Red Sox fans about Bill Buckner and few will mention that he was a solid first baseman who generated plenty of runs for his side. Instead, Buckner is destined to be forever remembered as the guy who let a routine groundball go through his legs during the 1986 World Series, a largely solid and consistent 21-year career effectively reduced to a matter of seconds in the eyes of most baseball fans.

That sport is the most capricious of beasts may cross the mind of Pat Fenlon in the days and weeks ahead. The Irishman could argue that he has brought about a gradual improvement at Hibernian since succeeding Colin Calderwood as manager in November 2011, point towards his team leading the Scottish Premier League for a short spell last autumn and reaching successive Scottish Cup finals.

Come judgement day, however, the chances are those will not be what spring to mind when it comes to assessing his tenure at Easter Road. Fenlon could manage for another three decades and will likely never shake off the stigma of being the man in charge when Hibs lost a cup final 5-1 to their greatest rivals. That he was also in the dug-out when they recorded the worst ever aggregate score by a Scottish club in Europe - a 9-0 defeat to Malmo, incorporating a 7-0 loss at home - serves only as another black mark against his name. Only by finally ending Hibs' Scottish Cup turmoil and winning the trophy for the first time since 1902 could Fenlon, perhaps, start to offset the damage sustained by those two massively humiliating results.

That, of course, assumes he remains in the job long enough to have another crack at it. There was no immediate fall-out from the loss to Malmo, no ultimatum delivered by chairman Rod Petrie that Fenlon needed to turn things around and quick. The feeling lingers, though, that the 44 year-old Dubliner might just be running out of time. An opening-day league defeat to Motherwell further weakened his position and now there is the small matter of another derby to contend with. Hearts are on their knees, a club battling for its very existence and with a squad stripped of most of its assets. Should Fenlon's Hibs succumb at Tynecastle to this team of teenage triers, especially by a heavy margin, then there may be no way back. The opportunity is there for Hibs to establish themselves as the capital's prominent club and failure by Fenlon to grind this weakened Hearts side under his heel may ultimately cost him his job.

Roddy Collins, a contemporary of Fenlon's both as a player and then manager in the League of Ireland, told Herald Sport before Fenlon's appointment at Easter Road almost two years ago that he thought his countryman might struggle in Scottish football. Yesterday, he took no satisfaction in being proved right.

"He's struggling badly," said Collins, now managing in the Irish second tier with Athlone Town. "It's a different ball game managing in Scotland. It was alright winning leagues and cups here in Ireland, spending fortunes and winning all the local competitions - we can all do that. Going over there was going to be a massive challenge for him and it's gone pear-shaped. They got away with murder last year because they had [Leigh] Griffiths as he got them out of so many holes. But at the moment it's not good. This year was always going to be a big test for him and it looks like he's falling short."

The 7-0 loss to Malmo did not go unnoticed in Ireland either. "That was embarrassing," said a candid Collins. "People will look at that and think that Irish football must be a pub league and anyone can manage in it when they hear results like that. To lose 9-0 on aggregate to a team like Malmo is an embarrassment. Even the way they're playing isn't great. Kicking the ball black and blue - who wants to see that? Hibs were always a good football side but now they're just putting it down and lumping it. When I watch the games on Sky I'm cringing that he's come out of our league and has gone over and done that."

Collins feels that it is now inevitable that Hibs and Fenlon will part company. "I think it's now only a matter of time because you can't go week to week, season to season hoping the next result is going to keep you in a job. You need a good run. Hibs are a top-four club, always were along with Hearts, Celtic and Rangers. That was the way it always was. Being able to buy a player last week for £200,000 [James Collins] shows there's a budget there but it's getting a bit embarrassing now when you see the performances. He's failing miserably. From my point of view that's a bit of a pity. I thought bringing Jimmy Nicholl in as assistant was a good idea but it looks like being a year too late."