Crystal Palace strengthened their chances of a top-eight finish in the UEFA Conference League with a comfortable 3-0 victory against Shelbourne at Dublin’s Tallaght Stadium on Thursday.
Christantus Uche celebrated his first start for the club by breaking the deadlock early on, before Eddie Nketiah and Yéremy Pino added further goals in the first half to give the Premier League outfit a commanding lead by halftime.
The Eagles, eager to secure direct qualification and bypass February’s play-off round, threatened to extend their advantage after the break, but substitute Romain Esse was unlucky as his effort struck both posts.
Oliver Glasner’s team now have nine points and occupy ninth place, trailing a cluster of five teams immediately above them by just one point, with their final league-phase match set to be played at home against Finland’s KuPS.
Eddie Nketiah scored Palace’s second goal.
Palace Run Riot in First Half to Seal Comfortable Win Over Shelbourne
Palace took the lead in the 11th minute when Marc Guéhi found Daichi Kamada, who released Eddie Nketiah down the left. Nketiah pulled the ball back across goal, and Christantus Uche arrived at the penalty spot to side-foot it past Shelbourne goalkeeper Wessel Speel.
The Eagles doubled their lead on 25 minutes. Yéremy Pino threaded a precise pass to send Uche racing into the box. Uche delicately chipped the advancing keeper, only for the ball to strike the base of the far post — but Nketiah was perfectly placed to tap home the rebound.
Shelbourne, who had earned just one point from their first four league-phase matches and whose domestic campaign in Ireland had ended the previous month, struggled to contain Palace’s dominance.
Moments later, Chris Richards rose highest from a corner and powered a header against the crossbar.
In the 37th minute, Palace made it 3-0. Pino surged forward to the edge of the area and fired a low drive into the bottom corner.
Shortly after the break, Palace nearly grabbed a fourth: Uche charged down Speel’s clearance, and the loose ball fell kindly to Nketiah, but the Shelbourne keeper redeemed himself with a desperate save at the near post.
Shelbourne finally threatened when Kerr McInroy’s low cross from the right narrowly evaded the stretching Sean Boyd at the far post.
Substitute Romain Esse was desperately unlucky not to add a fourth for Palace. His low shot struck the inside of one post, rolled across the goal line, clipped the other upright, and stayed out.
With 22 minutes remaining, Uche spun away from his marker inside the box but blasted his effort over from close range.
Palace’s stand-in goalkeeper Walter BenÃtez was largely untroubled until stoppage time, when he produced a sharp reflex save to keep out Daniel Kelly’s effort after a flicked-on deep free-kick.
