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Shane Long

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Shane Long
Personal information
Full name Shane Patrick Long
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.79 m)
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 West Bromwich Albion
Youth career
1998–2000 St. Kevin
2000–2004 Saint Michaels
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004–2005 Cork City 1 (0)
2005–2011 Reading 173 (44)
2011– West Bromwich Albion 0 (0)
International career‡
2006 Republic of Ireland U21
2007– Republic of Ireland 22 (6)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 25 May 2011
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10 August 2011

Shane Patrick Long (born 22 January 1987) is an Irish footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club West Bromwich Albion.

Early life

Long was born in Gortnahoe, County Tipperary, Ireland.[1] He was a talented hurler and appeared in two All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship (Under 18) semi-finals with Tipperary at Croke Park,[2] and was regarded as a pacey and promising forward.[3] Long was also playing football at this time, and started his career in the game with Tipperary club St Kevin's in 1998, joining Saint Michaels in 2000.

Club career

Cork City

Long was discovered and brought to Cork City with a scholarship on 1 July 2004 by Pat Dolan. When ready, Long was called to the first team squad for the 2005 season when manager Dolan was replaced by Damien Richardson, and the new manager awarded him his senior League of Ireland début on 25 March 2005 as a substitute for Joe Gamble.[4] His only other appearance was again as a substitute in the Setanta Sports Cup on 2 May.[5] However, following Dolan's consultation with his brother, Reading coach Eamonn Dolan, Reading made bids for both Long and Kevin Doyle. Cork were forced to sell Doyle due to a contract clause, but the circumstances surrounding Long's transfer were not disclosed. Long signed as a Reading player on 7 June 2005.[citation needed]

Reading

In Reading's Championship-winning 2005–06 campaign, Long scored three goals in 10 substitute appearances,[6] making his first league start on 17 April 2006 in the 3–1 home victory against Stoke City. For the first season, he was mostly second choice in the pecking order behind fellow Irishman Kevin Doyle, Dave Kitson and Leroy Lita. He started all of the games in Reading's FA Cup campaign and scored one goal.[7]

On 4 July 2007, Long signed an improved four-year contract to keep him at Reading until the end of the 2010–11 season.[8]

On 16 March 2008, in a 2–1 defeat at Anfield against Liverpool Long was involved in an incident as to where he flung his shirt to the ground, citing frustration at his performance and frustration with the match officials, after being subbed by manager Steve Coppell.[citation needed] In the post match interview, Steve Coppell made a stern point in that "It will not happen again." Long made a full apology on the official club website.[9]

His 2008-09 season ended happily after scoring an equaliser in a 1–1 draw at Southampton, before ending the season with a brace in a 2–0 victory at Norwich City.[citation needed]

In 2010 FA Cup third round replay match against Liverpool, Long was clipped by Yossi Benayoun to win a 93rd minute penalty[citation needed] as Liverpool led 1–0 at Anfield to bring the match into extra time.[citation needed] Long then scored a glancing header in the 100th minute in front of the Anfield Kop[10] from a cross supplied by Gunarsson, which sent Reading into the Fourth round of the FA Cup to play at home against Burnley.[11][12]

On 30 January 2010 Long scored a crucial goal at home to strugglers Barnsley which gifted Reading all three points, in a 1–0 win for the Royals.[13] The following Saturday his good run of form continued with an opening goal which contributed to a 2–1 win away to Doncaster at the Keepmoat Stadium.[14] His goalscoring prowess saw no end and on 9 February 2010 he scored a brace in a 2–1 win at home to Plymouth, giving Reading their third consecutive league victory and Long's fourth goal in three games.[15]

However, on 13 February 2010 in an FA Cup fifth round match at home to West Bromwich Albion, Long was sent off for a careless lunge at West Brom Ivorian defender Abdoulaye Meite.[16] It was his second straight dismissable offence of the season, the first procured away to Derby County in a Championship match in November.[citation needed] On 7 March 2010 in Reading's FA Cup Quarter Final against Aston Villa, Long scored a brace in the first half which saw Reading leading 2–0 at half time. However a hat-trick from Norwegian striker John Carew and a strike from Ashley Young in the second half saw Long's brace go to waste as Aston Villa booked themselves a place in the semi-finals.[17] On 2 May 2010, Long played his 150th game for Reading in the 4–1 Championship win over Preston North End at the Madejski Stadium.[citation needed]

On 11 September 2010, Long won two penalties and converted the first in Reading's 3–0 win over Crystal Palace.[citation needed]

On 04 November 2010 Shane Long signed a one year contract extension valid until 2012. [18]

On 18 December 2010, Long scored twice against Derby County which led to his best goal-scoring form of his life.[citation needed] He followed up with a brace against Bristol City on Boxing Day.[citation needed] On 3 January 2011, Long scored another brace to give Reading the three points against Burnley in a 2-1 victory.[citation needed] On 8 January 2011, Long then hit the only goal in the FA Cup's third round encounter with West Bromwich Albion.[citation needed]

After an impressive season for Reading, Long won the player of the season award, beating Jimmy Kebe and Jem Karacan.

Shane Long netted 2 goals for Reading on 17th May 2011 in a 3-0 away win against Cardiff City in the second leg of the Championship Play-Off semi finals. One goal came from the penalty spot and the other a lob after a blocked clearance from Cardiff goalkeeper Stephen Bywater. Long received the Man of the Match award.

Long finished the season with 28 goals in 58 matches for club and country. This being his best season so far in his career.

After the play-off final defeat against Swansea, chairman John Madejski declared Long to be world class. "What is the value I would place on him? £20m."[19]

West Bromwich Albion

On 9 August 2011, Long signed for Premier league side West Bromwich Albion on a three-year deal, with a further year’s option. [20] Although the fee was undisclosed, it is believed to be £4.5m, with add-ons that could eventually rise to £6.5m, which would be a record fee for West Bromwich, surpassing the £4.7m paid for Spanish international midfielder Borja Valero from Real Mallorca in 2008. [21][22]

International career

Long's form for Reading in the 2005–06 season earned him four Republic of Ireland U19 caps.[23]

Due to injuries to his Reading team mate Kevin Doyle and Sunderland's Stephen Elliott,[24] he earned his first senior cap for the Republic of Ireland in their 2–1 win away to San Marino on 7 February 2007.[25]

When Long earned his second cap as a substitute against Slovakia on 28 March 2007 he became the first person to play both hurling and international football at Croke Park, having been part of the Tipperary team for the All-Ireland Minor semi-finals in 2003 and 2004.[26] [27] Long scored his first international goal in a friendly 1–1 draw against Bolivia on 26 May 2007.,[28] and followed this with a brace in Ireland's 4–0 win over Denmark on 22 August 2007.

He was nominated as the Football Association of Ireland Young Player of the Year for 2007.[29][30]

In March 2011, Long was brought on early to replace the injured Kevin Doyle in a Euro 2012 qualifier against Macedonia in Dublin.[31] His performance was rewarded with a start in Ireland's next game against Uruguay in which Long scored the first of Ireland's goals with a header in a 2-3 loss.[32]


Club statistics

Template:Football player statistics 1[33] Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2005–06||rowspan=6|Reading|||Championship||11||3||4||1||0||0||0||0||15||4 |- |2006-07||rowspan=2|Premier League||21||2||1||1||2||1||0||0||26||4 |- |2007-08||29||3||2||0||1||0||0||0||32||3 |- |2008-09||rowspan=3|Championship||39||9||1||0||3||0||0||0||43||9 |- |2009-10||31||6||5||3||0||0||0||0||36||9 |- |2010-11||45||23||4||2||1||0||0||0||50||25 |- !colspan="3"|Total !176!!46!!17!!7!!7!!1!!0!!0!!200!!54 |}

References

  1. ^ Foster, Patrick (16 April 2006). "Treated like Royalty". Times Online. Retrieved 17 May 2006.
  2. ^ The long way from Tipperary[dead link‍] Irish Post
  3. ^ Ruth keeps Tipperary in title race Irish Examiner, 15 May 2003
  4. ^ Irish Times (subscription required)
  5. ^ Irish Times (subscription required)
  6. ^ Profile - Shane Long Reading FC
  7. ^ "Reading Club stats". BBC Sport. 25 June 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2006.
  8. ^ "Four new contracts agreed". Reading FC. 4 July 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
  9. ^ "Long apologises". Reading FC. 16 March 2008. Retrieved 18 March 2008.
  10. ^ "Liverpool 1–2 Reading". BBC Sport. 13 January 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
  11. ^ "Long goal stuns Anfield". ESPN Soccernet. 13 January 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  12. ^ "Giantkillers Reading strike again". ESPN Soccernet. 23 January 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  13. ^ "Long on target for Royals". ESPN Soccernet. 30 January 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  14. ^ "Doncaster downed by Reading". ESPN Soccernet. 26 February 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  15. ^ "Long makes Pilgrims pay penalty". ESPN Soccernet. 9 February 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  16. ^ "Mattock goal earns replay". ESPN Soccernet. 13 February 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  17. ^ "Villa seal semi-final spot". ESPN Soccernet. 7 March 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  18. ^ http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/football/readingfc/s/2081672_shane_long_signs_new_reading_fc_contract
  19. ^ Readng aware of Long interest, Retrieved 06/06/2011
  20. ^ . WBA Fc. 9 August 2011 title=Albion complete Long capture http://www.wba.co.uk/page/News/0,,10366~2415046,00.html title=Albion complete Long capture. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Missing pipe in: |url= (help)
  21. ^ . 9 August 2011 title=Albion look to seal Shane Long deal=Express & Star http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/west-bromwich-albion-fc/2011/08/09/albion-look-to-seal-shane-long-deal/ title=Albion look to seal Shane Long deal=Express & Star. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Missing pipe in: |url= (help)
  22. ^ "Shane Long joins West Bromwich Albion from Reading". BBC Sport. 9 August 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  23. ^ "Republic of Ireland: Under 19 – Squad Profile". Football Association of Ireland. Retrieved 3 June 2006.
  24. ^ "Long ready to make Republic debut". BBC Sport. 6 February 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2007.
  25. ^ "San Marino 1–2 Rep of Ireland". BBC Sport. 7 February 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2007.
  26. ^ "Royals trio line up for historic match". Berkshire Regional Newspapers. 22 March 2007. Retrieved 10 April 2007.[dead link‍]
  27. ^ "Republic of Ireland 1–0 Slovakia". Football Association of Ireland. 22 March 2007. Retrieved 10 April 2007.
  28. ^ "Bolivia 1–1 Rep of Ireland". BBC Sport. 26 May 2007. Retrieved 26 June 2007.
  29. ^ "FAI and eircom announce nominations for eircom International Awards". Football Association of Ireland. 20 December 2007. Retrieved 20 December 2007.
  30. ^ "Duo up for player of the year". Reading FC. 20 December 2007. Retrieved 20 December 2007.
  31. ^ "As it Happened: Ireland 2-1 FYR Macedonia". RTE Sport. 26 March 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  32. ^ "No disgrace in defeat for second string". Irish Times. 29 March 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  33. ^ "Shane Long Career Stats". Soccerbase. 27 April 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.

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