Qarabag rolled into Tolka Park and left with a professional, and impressive, 3-0 victory to leave Shelbourne with an enormous mountain to climb in the Champions League second-round qualifiers.
Reds fans were hoping to summon the spirit of '04 when they famously turned over Hadjuk Split at this stage of the competition. Dave Rogers, scorer of a memorable goal that night, was on punditry duty for Premier Sports here, but the standout performer in the decisive opening period was a man with a more tenuous link to that occasion.
In 2013, seven years after he guided Shels to the brink of the Champions League group stages, Pat Fenlon brought Abdellah Zoubir to Hibernian on loan from French side Istres. Here, the now 33-year-old showed why Fenlon had such faith in his ability. He ran the first half, helping to set up Leandro Andrade's 13th-minute tap-in.
Shels twice hit the woodwork - Sean Gannon going incredibly close early on, Paddy Barrett hitting the bar in the second half - and were better on the turnaround. But late goals from Oleksii Kashchuk and Nariman Akhundzade deflated the atmosphere as Qarabag efficiently exposed a gulf in class.
Qarabag, still in pre-season, tuned up for their trip to Dublin with friendlies against FC Twente and RB Salzburg at the picturesque 500-capacity Alois Latini Stadion in Austria. Quality opposition no doubt, but not quite the surrounds to prepare you for a partisan Tolka Park.
Still, the Azerbaijan champions have far too much high-level European experience to be easily shaken, and they took this contest by the scruff of the neck pretty much from the off.
Zoubir oozed class on the left, twisting the guts of Sean Gannon early doors before fizzing a low strike inches past the left-hand post.
Things looked ominous in an opening bossed by the visitors, and yet Shels will still be wondering how they didn’t break the deadlock in the seventh minute.
A deep corner fell to Ali Coote who drove in a cross that Kameron Ledwidge connected with. His header ricocheted into the path of Gannon, and his bobbly strike kissed the inside of the post before Akhundzade booted it off the line.
Gasps of frustration around Tolka; gasps that soon turned into groans.
Four minutes later, Zoubir slipped a cute pass into the stride of the overlapping Tural Bayramov down the left side of Shels’ box and his low cross was knocked home by Andrade.
A bad start got worse just before the 20-minute mark when Tyreke Wilson slipped awkwardly, yelping in pain as he hit the turf. Wilson was carried off, later going down the tunnel with his left leg in a brace. It didn’t look good.
James Norris entered the fray but the tide of Qarabag attacks continued to flow.
Akhundzade drew a sharp save from Healy with an angled drive; from the resulting corner, Zoubir clipped in a cross that Akhundzade opportunistically volleyed onto the crossbar.
Soon after, Zoubir again found Akhundzade, who this time thumped in a shot that Healy batted away.
Shels tirelessly tried to plug the gaps their fluid, technically excellent opponents routinely opened up.
After Bayramov’s fierce left-footer whistled just wide, Shels headed for the dressing-rooms to reset.
On came Mark Coyle for Gannon – who was on a booking – but it was Qarabag who stayed on the front foot, Emanuel Addai drawing a full-stretch save from Healy with a firm header.
After that, momentum changed. Shels were more direct, more aggressive – and they started to get some joy.
A pleasingly simple passge of play led to their best chance: Caffrey’s diagonal to Norris, Norris’ cushioned volley to Kerr McInroy; McInroy’s first-time looped cross towards Wood. Qarabag were exposed, but Wood rushed his effort, fresh-airing an attempted volley. It was, however, a genuine moment of encouragement for the reigning League of Ireland champions.
Coote then picked his way through the heart of the Qarabag defence, playing a one-two with Wood and seeing his deflected left-footer dip just over the bar.
Coyle left a bit on Zoubir in the 68th minute, moments before Norris and Dani Bolt both steamed into a 50-50. Bolt came off the worse for it, but Shels won the free-kick, which almost led to a leveller when Barrett bent in a cross-come-shot that smacked off the upright.
Shels huffed and puffed. Qarabag kept them at arm's length. Nine minutes from time, the killer blow.
Kady slipped a lovely through ball for Bolt to chase. He lifted a little chip over the onrushing Healy, with his effort bouncing off the post only for Kashchuk - who'd only come off the bench a couple of minutes earlier - to knock home.
It got worse in the 85th minute when Ledwidge misjudged a header back to Healy, the ball sailing over the keeper's head and allowing Akhundzade to gleefully finish off.
That was harsh on Shelbourne, but they at least have the cosiderable safety net of the Europa League football qualifiers to drop down to should they fail to pull off a miracle in Baku next week.
Shelbourne: Lorcan Healy; Sean Gannon (Mark Coyle HT), Paddy Barrett (capt), Kameron Ledwidge, Tyreke Wilson (James Norris 18); Kerr McInroy, JJ Lunney, Harry Wood; Alistair Coote (John Martin 66), Ademipo Odubeko (Sean Boyd 77), Evan Caffrey (John O’Sullivan 66)
Qarabag: Fabijan Buntic; Dani Bolt, Bahlul Mustafazade, Matheus Silva, Tural Bayramov; Pedro Bicahlo, Kady, Emmanuel Addai; Leandro Andrade (Olexiy Kashchuk 77), Nariman Akhundzade (Musa Gurbanli 87), Abdellah Zoubir (capt, Elvin Jafarguliyev 87)
Referee: Ante Culina (Croatia)
