THE CELTIC CUP FINAL
Long: I don’t worry about goal drought... if I score tonight all that will be forgotten and forgiven
SHANE LONG does not know whether to laugh or cry as his goal drought extended to 24 games for club and country on Friday.
But that will all be forgotten in Cardiff if he scores the goal that takes Ireland to the World Cup – or at least into the play-offs.
Long had three great chances against Moldova, but all went begging. He made his frustration clear after the final miss.
“You’ve just got to keep believing,” said Long. “Sometimes when it’s like Friday night you have to laugh it off and move on to the next one.”
The Southampton striker references his final season at Reading, when he scored 23 goals in the Championship – 28 in total – before going 11 games without a goal midway through the next one – the 2011-12 campaign – for his next club West Brom.
“You’ve just got to keep going and suddenly it’ll come and they’ll fly into the net,” he said.
“In training I’m hitting the net no problem, it’s just not happening in the game.” It might be a different story if Long, 30, let the situation get to him.
But 12 years in England have sharpened his mental strength and he insists that confidence is not a problem.
“It comes with being a striker – you’re always going to be judged on goals. I know it’ll turn right if I keep doing the right things,” he added.
“It would be worse if I was playing bad, nothing was happening for me and the ball was bouncing off me and I wasn’t getting the chances.
“Look, it’s hard not be frustrated. I want to score for my country, but I’ll keep believing and it will come.
“I feel over the last three games with Southampton I didn’t really have many chances and on Friday I got three, but they just wouldn’t go in for me. Sometimes this happens, but I’ll keep getting in the right positions. Thankfully it didn’t cost us.
“If you ask any striker and they go through this, it just won’t go in for them, but hopefully the ball will hit me in the face and into the goal.
“I feel I’m playing well and doing everything right – just hitting the back of the net is the next step.”
With Jon Walters again unavailable, Martin O’Neill may go with a more conservative formation tonight, but Long enjoyed playing alongside Daryl Murphy.
“Murph is a big physical presence and it frees me up if the ball does come along and I can test them behind,” he said.
“I felt I caused Moldova problems. If you look back, you’ll see the chances I missed and people think it’s a bad game. But I know how I performed and it is frustrating not to get a goal, but it will come.”