Things may been different had the visitors taken advantage of the glorious opportunity that came their way in the 11th minute when Alan O’Sullivan gathered a slack backpass by Paddy Barrett to run free on the Dundalk goal. However, with just Gabriel Sava to beat, the striker saw his effort drift wide.

Dundalk are not the kind of team that offer second chances and, by the 25th minute, they had this tie all but put to bed.

Shels paid dearly for O’Sullivan’s miss when Ryan Robinson headed into his own net in the 14th minute, Ronan Finn’s cross skidding off the head of the unfortunate Shels centre-back, completely deceiving Greg Murray.

Dundalk continued to press for a second goal and it arrived after a flurry of corners in the 22nd minute. Richie Towell picked the ball up on the right and found Jake Kelly who beat Murray with a pinpoint header.

It was another corner that led to the third goal in the 49th minute. Daryl Horgan’s delivery from the left was knocked on by Shane Grimes and Kurtis Byrne was on hand to finish at the back post.

The fourth goal arrived with 20 minutes to play. Substitute Ciaran O’Connor showed plenty of power to run Adam O’Connor in the inside left channel, drawing a foul from the Shels full-back and Towell made no mistake from the penalty spot.

O’Connor was also instrumental in the fifth, guiding a Sean Gannon cross to the far post for Ronan Finn to head home.

Dundalk:Gabriel Sava; Sean Gannon (David McMillan 81), Andrew Boyle, Paddy Barrett, Shane Grimes; John Mountney, Richard Towell (Chris Shields 75); Jake Kelly, Ronan Finn, Daryl Horgan (Ciaran O’Connor 64); Kurtis Byrne.

Subs not used: Paul Finnegan; Dane Massey; George Poynton; Gary Rogers.

Shelbourne:Greg Murray; Sean Heaney, Adam O’Connor (Darragh Gannon 78), Ryan Robinson, Evan Osam; Mark Sandford (Philly Hughes 71), Craig Walsh (Jake Donnelly 63), Daire Doyle, Colm Crowe, Dylan McGlade; Alan O’Sullivan.

Subs not used:Eric Donnelly; Gareth Coughlan; Alan Kehoe; Aaron Robinson.

Referee:Dave McKeon.