The visitors adapted well to the testing conditions at Dublin’s Tallaght Stadium, but despite the initial promise, Marc Guehi was unable to capitalise when the ball from a long Chris Richards throw found him early on.
Yet, it still didn’t take too long for Palace to cut through the hosts, as a swift move culminated in Eddie Nketiah squaring the ball for Christantus Uche to score just 11 minutes into his first start for the club.
Adam Wharton then hit shots from range either side of Paddy Barrett curling an attempt harmlessly off-target at the other end.
Palace scored their second in the 25th minute with their two strikers involved again, as Uche slid in to reach Yeremy Pino’s through ball ahead of Wessel Speel and Nketiah converted after the ball had hit the post.
Palace remained comfortably on top, and Nketiah was denied by Mark Coyle moments later, before heading into the side netting after Richards had hit the crossbar.
They added to the scoreboard again in the 37th minute thanks to Pino, who effortlessly glided up the pitch and smashed his shot into the bottom corner.
The visitors were relentless but Speel was equal to Borna Sosa’s strike shortly before the break.
With the game all but won though, Oliver Glasner made three substitutions ahead of the restart, but that didn’t alter the play’s direction at all, with Speel recovering from his own mistake to stop Nketiah’s shot within a minute.
Romain Esse then saw a shot blocked before Jefferson Lerma and Richards narrowly missed the target with headers. Esse also sent a scuffed attempt wide and was then left in disbelief when his shot hit both posts before Speel scrambled to claim the ball.
There was a disappointing end to the evening for Justin Devenny as he went off injured, but that saw 17-year-old Benji Casey come on for his senior debut as Palace comfortably responded to the defeat against Strasbourg in their last UECL match with their third consecutive win in all competitions, which takes them ninth for now.
The result also leaves Shelbourne 34th with one point and no goals to their name.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Christantus Uche (Crystal Palace)
Click here to see all the stats of the match.
