Shane Long hints at possible Reading converts
Republic of Ireland striker Shane Long hinted earlier this week that three of his Reading clubmates have links with Ireland, and may be interested in playing for the Irish national team.
Reading, who are currently fifth place in the Championship and chasing promotion, have a number of Irish internationals in their squad, with Long, Noel Hunt, and Ian Harte all having played for the senior side. As well as that, the club also has a number of Irish youths on their books: midfielder Jay Tabb (7 u21 caps), defender Julian Kelly (who has played at under-19 level), defender Carl McHugh (former u17 captain and now u19 regular), forward James Murphy (under 17) and forward Dave Mooney (u23 international).
In an interview with the Evening Herald on Thursday, striker Shane Long (who is the Championship’s second highest scorer with 20 goals) stated that two more of the Reading squad have Irish connections, and was informed of goalkeeper Alex McCarthy’s Irish lineage. “I didn’t know about Alex McCarthy but I knew about Sean alright”, Long told the Evening Herald. “Sean Morrison is a bit of an Irish name. I knew he wanted to [play for Ireland]. I think there’s another lad, Alex Pearce, a centre-back going for it. There’s a few coming out of the woodwork.
“I’m not too sure about Alex. He’s a top goalkeeper, he’s played for England U21s there during the week and kept a clean sheet in a 4-0 win over Denmark. He’s top quality so if he does decide to play for Ireland it would be a boost.”
Long was asked about his relationship with Irish boss Giovanni Trapattoni, and was full of praise for the veteran Italian. “I think every player learns so much from him,” he declared. “I know me personally, I do anyway. He tells you things when, after he tells you, are so simple but something you don’t think about and it adds to your game a lot.
“It’s just his experience, being in the game for so long. He’s added to every player’s game and the longer he’s over Irish football the better for it. Him and Marco, the two of them kind of look after me a bit and train me up a bit. When I come into the Irish squad, I learn something new every time. I suppose how can’t you learn from a World Cup winner and a manager of his accolades? Yeah, they’ve definitely added to my game a lot and are part of the reason why I’m scoring.”
Long, who is linked with a number of Premier League clubs, and is likely to play in the top flight next year, with or without Reading, is also positive about the rest of Ireland’s Euro 2012 campaign.
“We’re joint top of the table and in a great position of making the Euros,” Long admitted. “It’s working for us. We’re getting results on the board I think sometimes in the past we wouldn’t do. We maybe drew games we should have won. It worked for Italy as well in all their years of football. I think it’s the right way to go. If you’re 1-0 up, it’s just as good as a 4-0 win, you still get the three points on the board. It’s the right way to go I think.
“Russia and Slovakia have a lot of tough games away to go to. Slovakia have to come here and the one big game which stands out for us is the game in Russia. I think we can pull out a result there and if we do that, it puts us in a great position. First we have to look to beat Macedonia again in the summer. It’s going to be hard out there in the heat but I’m sure we’ll be well up for it and three points there could go a long way.”
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id be more concerned about getting the likes of pennant,o’hara,chambers and stearman on bored.i woudnt rate these lads pearce is very mediocre id rate someone like o’dea ahead of him.mccarthy would be a good addition we dont have many quality keepers under the age of 21
I’d agree with Nick. Guys like Pennant, O’Hara, Noble, Ferdinand, Cox, Stearman, Chambers, Hammill, Naughton, Ambrose, O’Neil, Connolly, Ephraim etc. are there to be got and all are perfectly eligible. I think it’s stupid that Trapattoni hasn’t got any as of yet.
If reports are to be believed Trapattoni or other members of the Ireland team have approached several of those players listed in Mike Tyson’s post and got lukewarm responses or humming and hawing (with the exception of Stearman who was supposed to have applied for his eligibility papers).
O’Hara has definitely been approached at least once and wants to hold out until he’s sure he won’t get an England callup first. Noble was rumoured to be the player whose agent had stated that he’d have to be guaranteed a starting place before he’d line out for Ireland. As for Pennant I don’t know why anybody would want him to play for us after him so baldly stating that it would be purely for career advancement. Hammill is a good shout though and should be pursued especially with him being under Mick McCarthy’s wing at Wolves.
Long’s enthusiasm for the Ireland management team and his feeling that they have helped him progress as a player is good to hear. It’s been great to see his improvement this year and I think he’ll have important contributions to make over our next few campaigns.
A crop of Reading reserves with tenuous Irish ancestry are being coaxed into declaring for Ireland; this isn’t supposed to excite an Irish football supporter? Once this type of player mentioned by Long lines out for the Enlgish u-21 side, they realise that this is their ceiling and won’t gain any further honours for the country of their birth. Forgive me if I don’t welcome these prospective new recruits with open arms.
I was very positive about Ciaran Clark’s switch of allegiance because of the fact that he is widely regarded as being capable of earning full England caps in the future. Add to this his obvious Irish heritage and you know Clark only wants to play for the country he considers home, Ireland. He’s not simply interested in racking up the Irish caps for the good of his footballing CV.
Careful with Ohara, Noble, Pennant, and other such characters. Its not fair to blame Trap for their lukewarm attitude. He has approached them, but they are rather indifferent. They certainly are not “passionate” about wanting to play for Ireland, they merely toy with the idea to further their career. Do you really want mercenaries like that in the locker room? Look what mercenaries and selfish players have done to Man City. They are always underperforming.
The Ireland team in 5 years
GK – Keiren Westwood
DF – Ciaran Clark
DF – John O’Shea
DF – Greg Cunningham
DF – Seamus Coleman
MF – Robbie Brady
MF – Connor Clifford
MF – Aiden Mcgeady
MF – James McCarthy
CF – Shane Long
CF – Kevin Doyle
Good on Shane for being proactive in approaching new talent. As always, Dunner has led by example.
Morisson and McCarthy have shown talent and I would welcome them both, but Pearce doesn’t offer much for me personally. Although it’s good to build strength in depth, we should be positive about the future. As things stand, the side that reaches maturity around 2014 could be immense if they build on early promise and steer clear of injuries.
Westwood
Coleman
Clark
Duffy/O’Dea
Cunningham/S.Ferguson (If he switches)
Meyler (get well soon lad – the warhorse we’ve missed since Keane)
Clifford
McGeady
McCarthy
Henderson
Shane Long/Doyle
At that point JOSH, Wilson, Gibson, Best, Whelan, Stokes and St Ledger will still be in their prime, and with a bit of luck we’ll be looking forward to the rise of Brady, Jack Grealish, Paul George and more.
It’s a bright future – and not a Pennant, Noble, O’Hara or (God help us) Anton Ferdinand in sight.
I agree with Eoin. All of these players that want to play for us are shite and wouldn’t get a cap for the Faroe Islands.
We have enough quality IRISH players coming through ie. Duffy, Clifford, Meyler, Doran and Sammon and players being ignored ie. Steven Reid, Andy Reid and Wes Hoolahan without embarrassing ourselves.
None of these players mentioned including O’Hara and Pennant would improve our country.
They’ll just turn us into the laughing stock of football.
Don’t agree at all. The likes of O’Hara and Noble would make a difference to our current muck Irish born midfield of Whelan and Gibson.
For one to say that Noble, O’Hara, Pennant etc. wouldn’t offer us anything is just plain stupidity.
[...] the start of last month, clubmate Shane Long hinted about the possibility of Pearce, Sean Morrison, and Alex McCarthy playing for Ireland, and it looks [...]
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