Chelsea blow away Shamrock Rovers in Conference League rout

Chelsea secured top spot at the top of the UEFA Conference League (UECL) league phase with a 5-1 win at home over Shamrock Rovers, making it six wins from six in this year’s main draw.

After being written off at the start of the season, Chelsea have surprised pundits and supporters alike with their Premier League (PL) form as they sit second in the table behind Liverpool.

In the Conference League, however, they were always expected to dominate, so five wins from their five matches prior to kick-off were par for the course.

Mykhaylo Mudryk’s recent failed drugs test has dampened the mood at Stamford Bridge slightly, but the Blues were in a goalscoring mood in the first half here.

They took a while to warm up, and the visitors, who themselves could qualify for the last 16 directly depending on results elsewhere, had a fantastic opportunity to break the dreadlock when Johnny Kenny scuffed his shot when unmarked eight yards from goal.

Midway through the half, though, Chelsea were gifted the opener when Darragh Burns nodded towards goal with Leon Pohls already coming out to collect, allowing Marc Guiu to head into an empty net.

Shamrock, to their credit, did equalise courtesy of Markus Poom – son of former Premier League goalkeeper Mart, volleyed in via Cesare Casadei’s deflection, but they shot themselves in the foot once more shortly after.

This time, Daniel Cleary was to blame, underhitting a pass back to Pohls that was intercepted by Guiu before the Spaniard rounded the shot-stopper and slotted in from a tight angle.

Before long, the Blues doubled their advantage thanks to a composed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall finish and, on the stroke of half-time, Guiu headed Noni Madueke’s cross into the corner to complete his hat-trick.

With the game already decided, Chelsea brought off Noni Madueke for Harvey Vale at the break, but they were still further ahead by the hour mark. It was an impressive strike, too, as Marc Cucurella struck a crisp effort in off the post from the edge of the box.

Substitute Joao Felix had a couple of chances to rub more salt into the Shamrock wounds, but fired wired before being denied by Pohls.

That ultimately didn’t matter, though, as Chelsea wound down the clock with complete ease to make it eight wins in a row and 11 games without defeat in all competitions.

This was not the result Shamrock were hoping for, but they are still in the tournament thanks to their previous displays and will find out their play-off opponents on Friday.