Southampton: Shane Long out of upcoming Ireland internationals
By Marc Walker
Southampton striker Shane Long has withdrawn from the Republic of Ireland’s squad for upcoming internationals against Gibraltar and Georgia.
An article on southamptonfc.com stated that the 32-year-old had picked up a groin injury in Saints’ 2-1 win over Spurs 10 days ago.
He had been named in Mick McCarthy’s 23-man group to play two European Championship qualifiers but will now remain at Staplewood to continue his recovery.
Long was the only Premier League forward named in the squad that also included former Saints man David McGoldrick.
Fellow Saints striker Michael Obafemi received his first call-up from Ireland when Martin O’Neill was still in charge but he is expected to be out for the rest of the season with a thigh injury.
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The next international break after this current one will be in June when Ireland face two further qualifiers.
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Long will hope to be fit for those games after helping to guide Saints to Premier League safety in the final eight league matches of the season.
He has only netted one goal so far this campaign but it proved to be important in a crucial win for Saints over Leicester back in January.
His pace seemed to worry the Foxes defence that day and he scored after chasing down the ball and squeezing a shot in past Kasper Schmeichel.
Before that, he had also won a penalty after drawing a foul in the area and claimed an assist once James Ward-Prowse had dispatched the resulting spot-kick.
Whilst Long’s lack of goals makes him frustrating to watch at times, his work-rate has often been a good match-up with the style of current Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl.
An example of this came against Spurs in his last appearance, despite it being cut short by injury.
He came on at half-time to replace Charlie Austin but was also introduced with Josh Sims. Their combinations upfront with Nathan Redmond proved problematic for the visitors’ to deal with.
Direct running and pace is what Saints needed to turn the game around and that is exactly what they got in the 28 minutes that Long was on the field.