{"id":6160,"date":"2020-05-12T12:55:41","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T12:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/inspiringyou.ie\/home\/?p=6160"},"modified":"2026-02-10T18:21:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T18:21:56","slug":"shane-long-answers-inspiring-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inspiringyou.ie\/home\/shane-long-answers-inspiring-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Shane Long answers Inspiring You!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We received some great questions from young football fans all over the world for Irish<\/a> and Southampton<\/a> striker Shane Long<\/strong>. It was great to have the Tipperary man support our #InspiringYou<\/strong> series which is designed to help children stay positive and dream of a brighter tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane answers #InspiringYou!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We have selected some of the questions sent into us for Shane<\/strong> to answer and if you are lucky he might have an answer for you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Beckham<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Marian and \u00c1ine O’Toole<\/strong> asked Shane,”What retired football player would he have loved to play alongside?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane answered<\/strong>, “So many answers for this one! But being a striker I\u2019ll go with David Beckham<\/a><\/strong> because of his delivery into the box!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leeds United <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Cody Doyle in Tipperary<\/strong> wanted to know,”What team did you support when you were a child?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane answered<\/strong>,”I was a Leeds Utd<\/strong> fan. There was a strong Irish contingent there when I was young such as Ian Harte, Gary Kelly, Stephen McPhail and David O’ Leary<\/strong> was manager. I got to play at Elland Road<\/strong> in my first season in UK & managed to get Gary Kelly\u2019s<\/strong> shirt!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duel Sports<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ronan in Claregalway<\/strong> asked, “How did you balance playing hurling and soccer at a high level when you were younger?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane answered<\/strong>,”It was hard, I remember playing 5 matches over 1 weekend when I was 15! It was too much. That’s why I had to make the decision to choose between the 2 when I was 17 & I chose soccer!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irish honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

M\u00e9abh in Galway<\/strong> wanted to know,” How does it feel when you play for Ireland?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane answered<\/strong>,”Obviously it\u2019s an honour. It\u2019s something every Irish child dreams of and I have a lot of pride in the fact I have over 80 caps<\/strong>. Hopefully there is more to come.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robbie Keane<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Owen Parker from Cregmore FC<\/strong> asked, “Who was the best player you ever played with and how did they help you develop as a player?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane answered<\/strong>,” A long list of players… Van Dijk, Lukaku, Anelka, Tadic<\/strong>… but I\u2019ll go with Robbie Keane<\/a><\/strong>. His finishing was incredible. Being Irish I could relate to him & I looked up to him when I was younger so it was amazing<\/strong> to learn from & play along side him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A nerve free zone!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Se\u00e1n from Mervue United<\/a><\/strong> asked, “How do you deal with pre-match nerves?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane answered<\/strong>,”I don\u2019t really get nervous. I make sure I train as hard as I can all week, study the opposition and am fully prepared for the game so I\u2019m confident walking onto the pitch. I’m more excited than nervous!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Man City icon<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

R\u00f3is\u00edn Conroy in <\/strong>Claregalway National School<\/strong> <\/a>asked, “Who is the best player you ever played against?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane answered<\/strong>,”Recently Van Dijk<\/strong> but overall I\u2019d have to say Vincent Kompany<\/strong>. Strong, quick and reads the game brilliantly.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tipp legend Eoin Kelly<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ro\u00eds\u00edn also asked<\/strong>,” Who is your favourite Tipperary hurler<\/strong>?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane answered<\/strong>,”The legend that is Eoin Kelly<\/strong><\/a>. Technically gifted, strong and could score from every angle!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Favourite sport<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Cillian Conroy in Claregalway National School<\/strong> asked,”Growing up in Tipperary which was your favourite sport as a child – hurling or soccer?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane answered<\/strong>,”Probably Hurling. Tipp is a hurling stronghold<\/strong> and I loved the game. Its been 16 years since I last played a match but still puck around at home & join in training in the summertime<\/strong> back in Ireland.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beans on toast!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Aoife from Galway<\/strong> asked, “What do you eat before a match?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane answered<\/strong>,” Weetabix with fruit, cranberries & honey, beans on toast & double espresso!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Germany glory!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Aoife also asked Shane<\/strong>, “What was the best goal you ever scored?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane answered<\/strong>,”My goal against Germany at the Aviva<\/a>. I\u2019ve scored better quality goals but scoring the winner against the world champions, in front of the Irish fans was amazing. The atmosphere that night was incredible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liverpool goals!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Three and a half year old Aurora Healy from Zurich in Switzerland<\/strong> asked, “Why do you always score against Liverpool?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane answered<\/strong>,”Haha I don\u2019t know actually! I suppose every striker has teams they play against where they always seem to score. For Aguero its Newcastle & Spurs… for me it\u2019s Liverpool<\/a> & Aston Villa<\/strong>.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

#InspiringYou<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The idea for the #InspiringYou<\/strong> interviews is for us to inspire each other<\/strong> and to help children dream of a brighter tomorrow<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special thanks<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It was great having Shane as a guest on our #InspiringYou<\/strong> series. His answers gave us a super insight into life as a top level footballer and his passion for Tipperary hurling<\/strong>! We would like to wish Shane <\/strong>continued success on and off the pitch!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#IYIRL \u2013 Inspiring You In Real Life #InspiringYou<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We received some great questions from young football fans all over the world for Irish and Southampton striker Shane Long. It was great to have the Tipperary man support our #InspiringYou series which is designed to help children stay positive…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60,25,22,18],"tags":[90,49,91,83,82,85],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiringyou.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6160"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiringyou.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiringyou.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiringyou.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiringyou.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6160"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/inspiringyou.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6166,"href":"https:\/\/inspiringyou.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6160\/revisions\/6166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiringyou.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiringyou.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiringyou.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiringyou.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}