JJ Lunney scored the pick of the goals as Shelbourne eased to victory at the UCD Bowl to record their biggest win of the season.
Utterly dominant over the Students from the off, Shelbourne should have been in front after just three minutes.
Skipper Sean Boyd robbed Adam Wells to set-up Jack Moylan. But a poor first touch from Shels' number 10 allowed UCD to get back in numbers with captain Jack Keaney blocking his shot.
Mark Coyle let fly from some 35 yards to see his shot arrow not far wide of a post.
Boyd then just didn’t connect well enough with his flick which flew into the side netting after Gavin Molloy, Jad Hakiki and Kameron Ledwidge cut UCD open.
Moylan was twice off target in the following minutes while Boyd failed to get any power into a header.
The woodwork saved College on 23 minutes when Moylan rifled a shot off Kian Moore’s left-hand post.
Moore wasn’t really tested until just past the half hour mark, diving to his right to clasp Lunney’s shot after the midfielder cleverly made the opening for himself.
Moylan then looked set to finally break the deadlock on 41 minutes but contrived to side-footed wide, Moore having parried a shot from Hakiki.
Shels' patient pressure finally paid off right on 45 minutes.
The impressive Lunney threaded a superb ball through for the run of Paddy Barrett.
And though the defender’s shot was again parried by Moore, Moylan made no mistake this time when deftly chipping to the net for his seventh goal of the season.
Shelbourne remained very much on the front foot into the second half with Boyd, twice, and Lunney coming close to extending their lead.
That finally arrived on 66 minutes out of nothing when Coyle's ball wasn’t properly cleared.
It dropped for Lunney 30 yards out with the midfielder finding the top corner with a sublimely placed first time left-footer.
Boyd’s hard running was rewarded on 80 minutes when he sent Moore the wrong way from the penalty spot after the keeper had tripped Moylan.
Right-back John Ross Wilson added the gloss in stoppage time, running onto Hakiki's pass to find the bottom corner for his first goal of the season.
UCD: Kian Moore; Daniel Babb (Michael Gallagher 63), Jack Keaney, Adam Wells, Evan Osam; Brendan Barr (Sam Clarke 63), Adam Verdon; Mikey Raggett, Sean Brennan (O'Connor 77), Daniel Norris (Jesse Dempsey 77); Jack Doyle (Danu Kinsella-Bishop 57).
Shelbourne: Conor Kearns; John Ross Wilson, Paddy Barrett, Gavin Molloy, Kameron Ledwidge (Conor Kane 82); JJ Lunney, Mark Coyle (Harry Wood 75); Shane Farrell (Evan Caffrey 57), Jack Moylan (Gbemi Arubi 82), Jad Hakiki; Sean Boyd (David Toure 82).
Referee: Damien MacGraith (Mayo).
