Long dreaming of Irish glory

Shane Long hopes his form with West Brom can help push his case for a spot in the Republic of Ireland side for their Euro 2012 play-off.

Ireland take on Estonia in a two-legged tie to see who will be going to the finals next year after finishing second in their group behind Russia.

And with captain Robbie Keane struggling to be fit in time after suffering a muscle tear and Wolves striker Kevin Doyle suspended, Long is hoping to make best use of his playing time with West Brom to force Ireland manager Giovanni Trappatoni to pick him for the crunch matches.

“Obviously I was disappointed not to get a run-out during the week (against Armenia), but it was the right result,” Long said.

“We’ve got Estonia now in the play-offs. Hopefully we can get to the Euros and it will be a good summer next year, but there’s a lot of games at West Brom before that so hopefully I can stake my claim in those games.”

“We’re not going to underestimate them. When we looked at the four that we could have got we would have picked Estonia, but I’m sure they would have said the same thing about us.”

“It’s going to be a tough game, it’s a hard place to go and (Chris) Brunty and Garath (McAuley) (both of Northern Ireland) played against them and said that they were a great side.”

“It’s going to be tough for us, but we’re definitely good enough to get through.”

Long did not make it on to the pitch at all during the 2-1 win against Armenia which sealed a place in the play-offs, with Doyle and team-mate Simon Cox starting and Stoke City striker Jonathan Walters coming on off the bench.

And the former Reading man admitted that Trappatoni had not told him why he was on the bench, despite having already bagged three goals for his new club this term.

“No, he didn’t say anything, he just told me to be ready on the bench if I was called upon,” Long said.

“Obviously Cox was the one that came off and he wanted Walters to come on.”

“I was disappointed not to play, but still, it was a great result for Ireland.”

“Kevin’s missing next game and I’d like to think that I’m a natural replacement for him, but we’ll see what happens.

“(The manager) might have different ideas. Whatever he goes with is usually the right thing and he proved that in the last game.”