Albion hitman's Irish aim

West Brom's Shane Long is looking to be a regular starter in the Republic of Ireland's Euro 2012 side after his winner against Bosnia.

The 25-year-old showed his capabilities to Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni when he stepped off the bench to head in the only goal of the game 12 minutes from time at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.
However, it still seems that the Italian tactician prefers a starting forward line of Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle ahead of the opening game of the tournament against Croatia in Poznan on June 10.
Therefore Long has stressed that he will continue to try and persuade Trapattoni that he is the man to lead the line ahead of the duo, Stoke's Jon Walters and Albion team-mate Simon Cox, who are also ion contention.
He said: "There are a lot of players in the squad, 23 of us, playing for 11 positions on the pitch.
"But there are three of us on the bench who are worthy to come on as a striker, so when we do get our chance to push Kevin and Robbie for their place, we have got to take it.
"I think myself and Jon Walters put ourselves about well and put our case in the manager's head."
On his goal, Long added: "It was just a brilliant Aiden McGeady cross. I have played with him for a while now at international level and I know once he gets to the by-line, he is going to try to hang it up.
"It was nice to get on the end of it and get a goal to my name."