Shane Long’s game changer brings new mindset

Goals change games. Winning goals change perceptions.

On Thursday night, with one mighty swipe of his right foot, after a first touch which had set him up perfectly for the strike, Shane Long won a game – and, to the say the very least of the goal’s inspirational impact, changed a couple of perceptions.

One was of Long himself as a forward who, while possessed of a number of valuable attributes — pace, power, strength in the air — that can make him a nuisance for any defence, would not necessarily be the player every Irish fan would want to see in a one-on-one with the man regarded as the best goalkeeper in the world. But, when the chance finally arrived in the Aviva Stadium two nights ago, not even Robert Lewandowski could have provided a more clinical finish.