Untroubled Dublin swoop sets Palace up for fast-track to the knockouts

Ready for the off at the Tallaght Stadium : Picture by David Rake

Europa Conference League

Shelbourne 0, Crystal Palace 3

The last thing Crystal Palace needed with a fixture pile-up such as theirs was two extra playoff games in the Europa Conference league but that grim possibility receded somewhat in Dublin last night.

It was with a comprehensive victory over Shelbourne in the Tallaght Stadium that Palace moved tantalisingly to within a point of the top eight, which they should infiltrate with another win against the Finns from Kups at Selhurst Park next Thursday. 

Palace simply overwhelmed their hosts who, despite finishing third in the recently completed Irish premier division, have been outclassed in the Conference League, gaining one point so far, from a goalless draw, and scoring not a single goal.

With Palace's stand-in goalkeeper Walter Benitez not troubled by so much as a shot on target, Shelbourne were destined not to improve that sad record.

The outcome was welcomed by Ollie Glasner, the Palace manager, who said: "I'm pleased because we scored three goals and created so many chances. We missed two or three of those chances but it was good to watch."

Benitez was one of four changes in the Palace line-up. Chris Uche, who replaced the injured Jean-Philippe Mateta, celebrated his first start by side-footing Palace ahead in the 11th minute from the edge of the area following a move started by Daichi Kamada in midfield and carried on by Eddie Nketia with a low cross from the left.

Palace maintained the pressure to go further ahead in the 25th minute when Yeremy Pino put Uche through to just pip the advancing Wessel Speel to the ball. Uche's scrambled shot rebounded from the foot of an upright for Nketia to pop it back over the line from all of six inches out.

The energetic Pino fully deserved a goal, which duly came his way when he collected a short pass from Kamada before embellishing a fine run which took him past three opponents with a decisive shot past Speel.

With Sunday's match against Manchester City very much in mind, Glasner rang the changes thereafter, giving chances to Romaine Esse and the debut-making Ben Casey, No further goals were forthcoming but Glasner was hardly perturbed. "They were efficient enough", he said of his second-half substitutes.

Shelbourne (4-3-3): Speel - Mbeng (Temple 81), Coyle (Gannon 81), Barrett,  Ledwidge (Wilson 59) - Francis, Mcinroy, Caffrey - Wood (Chapman 81), Boyd, Martin (Kelly 59)

Eagles: (3-4-3): Benitez - Richards, Lacroix, Guehi - Devenney (Casey 82), Wharton (Hughes 46), Kamada (Lerma 46), Sosa - Pino (Esse 46), Uche, Nketiah (Clyne 67)

Attendance: 10,143