Irish football fans would have been happy to see Shane Long's name up in lights as he bagged a late winner for Southampton at Anfield, sending The Saints through to the EFL Cup final at Wembley.
The goal was typical Shane Long. A lung-bursting run to get on the end of a counter-attack, and he finished in style to send the travelling fans wild.
Speaking after the game, former Liverpool player spoke from personal experience as he described what makes Shane Long such a problem for an opposition defender, and even suggested that he was better than the attacking options that Liverpool had to call from on the night.
I'm a fan of Shane Long.
He's always the type of player you think when he comes on he'll cause a problem with his pace. I've played against him, it's not just his pace, it's his strength, low centre of gravity. You always feel he'll cause you a problem.
You look at two benches, and when you see Shane Long coming on you think, 'that's better than what Liverpool have got on the bench'.
That was just Shane Long's third goal of the season, Seamus Coleman has more, but if ever a striker's game was not dependant on goals, it's Long's.
He's had a spell out with injury, and he's had to deal with a shuffling of the deck up front too, but he will always work his socks off, and when chances fall his way, he's rarely wasteful.
Kudos to Carragher for showing him some love.
