Pain the Long and short of it

Brian O’Driscoll is something of an authority when it comes to injuries and sport and the Irish centre’s assertion that no player is 100% fit towards the end of the season sprung to mind in Malahide earlier this week.

Soccer may lack the heavy-duty impacts of rugby but to see half of Giovanni Trapattoni’s squad marked absent because of various niggles was to wonder if O’Driscoll’s thesis was transferable across codes.

Take Shane Long. The striker enjoyed a dream start to his West Bromwich Albion career, scoring five times in his first dozen games, but the campaign hit some speed bumps thereafter. First it was a knee injury, then a back problem and, most worryingly, the chest pains and breathing problems.

A round of anti-inflammatories dealt with that but the back has been the principal concern since.

“It’s just small things that I have to do every day but it’s keeping the pain away and it’s working. I’m just keeping on top of that,” said Long.

Long has been managing the injury since the St Stephen’s Day clash with Manchester City at The Hawthorns, after which he couldn’t train. It was mid-March before it was treated effectively.

It was small wonder then that his goals-per-game ratio dried up. He managed just three this side of the New Year.

“The injury set me back a bit and then chest pains and stuff... it kind of came one after another. But thankfully it didn’t cost West Brom. We had a great season and it didn’t cost me a chance to play in the Euros, so it’s not all bad.”

There has been no talk of surgery. It is simply something he will have to manage for the rest of his career and he will be putting his hand up for selection against Bosnia this Saturday. “The lads know that the boss wouldn’t be afraid to change it up if he had to so you have to go out and give it your all.”