Soccer Champions League, first qualifying round, first legGlentoran 1 Shelbourne 2 After the glorious 12th East Belfast's football supporters were left to reflect on a rather grim 13th last night as Shelbourne secured only their second away victory in European competition thanks to two second half goals from Jason Byrne.

A Sean Ward strike 13 minutes from the end of a peaceful night at the Oval means Glentoran retain some hope of progressing to meet Steaua Bucharest in round two of these Champions League qualifiers but the couple before that from Byrne leave Shelbourne in a commanding position ahead of next Wednesday's second leg back in Dublin where, on the strength of this performance, a more comprehensive victory looks well within their capabilities.

"I thought we controlled the game but we're only half way there," said a quietly satisfied Pat Fenlon afterwards. "Late on we sat back a bit and it was disappointing to concede a goal like that because when a home side gets one in that sort of situation it always gives them the impetus to push on and look for the equaliser.

"I don't want to take the gloss off what was a very good performance, though, because the fact is we would have happily taken the 2-1 win beforehand."

Still, at 2-0 the tie looked as good as over and Fenlon's men will rue a goal given away due to slack defending on the edge of their area because the Eircom League side will know they should have had a more comprehensive win at the end of 90 minutes which, as always seemed likely, proved difficult for the out of season part-timers.

Shelbourne might have taken the lead on any one of half a dozen occasions before Glen Crowe's swift break down the left set up Byrne for just his second goal in 13 European appearances, and when it came, the strike, a six-yard shot into an open goal, simply confirmed the southern team's superiority.

Ten minutes later they doubled the advantage with a penalty, Byrne sending the goalkeeper the wrong way after Crowe had left the clearly tiring Paul Leeman for dead and the centre half had eventually taken his man down just inside the box.

The home side seemed, at that point, entirely spent but to their credit they lifted themselves over the closing stages and twice went close late on as Shelbourne let their control slip completely.

Richie Baker cleared one chance off the line while Dean Delaney rounded off a fine night with a good save when Colin Nixon turned a close range header goalwards two minutes from time.

Elliott Morris also had to stop well in those dying minutes but it was still a disappointing finish from a Shelbourne side who had, and not for the first time recently, struggled to find their rhythm early on but still managed to look comfortably the better of the two teams.

They should have been at least a goal up at the end of the first half with their most sustained period of pressure, an eight-minute spell around a half hour in, alone yielding six corners and at least as many chances.

Briefly, the home side looked completely rattled and if it hadn't been for a couple of good stops by Morris and two lunging blocks by Leeman the locals would have looked well beaten even before the break.

Wes Hoolahan forced the better of the saves with a low curling shot after the midfielder had skipped inside Nixon on the edge of the area but Colin Hawkins had the visiting side's best chance only to linger a fraction over his shot, a delay that allowed Leeman to push the ball behind.

Roy Coyle's side carved out a handful of chances, too, early on but Dean Delaney wasn't required to make an actual save despite occasionally ponderous defending by the Shelbourne back four.

A more consistent fault with the visiting side, though, was their distribution in midfield and up front with the ball repeatedly given away cheaply, particularly by the two strikers as they dropped back to pick up possession in the middle of the pitch.

Both were to make amends later on, of course, and Alan Moore had some fine moments after replacing the injured David Crawley just before the break. In defence, Owen Heary and Dave Rogers performed solidly, too, but there will nevertheless be some disappointment about the time Ward was allowed to pick his spot for the goal, one that leaves some small measure of doubt hanging over a tie that could easily have been put safely to bed at the first attempt.

GLENTORAN: Morris; Nixon, Leeman, Walker, Holmes; Ward, Lockhart, McCallion, Keegan; Tolan (Morgan, 67 mins), Parkhouse (Halliday, 67 mins).

SHELBOURNE: Delaney; Heary, Hawkins, Rogers, Crawley (Moore, 44 mins); Baker, S Byrne, Hoolahan, Cahill; J Byrne (Crawford, 78 mins), Crowe (Fitzpatrick, 76 mins).

Referee: G Kaznaferis (Greece).