Shane Lowry (footballer)

Shane Lowry

Lowry playing for Millwall
Personal information
Full name	Shane Thomas Lowry[1]
Date of birth	(1989-06-12) 12 June 1989
Place of birth	Perth, Western Australia
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Millwall
Number	12
Youth career
	ECU Joondalup
2005–2009	Aston Villa
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2009–2012	Aston Villa	0	(0)
2009	→ Plymouth Argyle (loan)	13	(0)
2010	→ Leeds United (loan)	11	(0)
2011	→ Sheffield United (loan)	17	(0)
2011–2012	→ Millwall (loan)	9	(0)
2012–	Millwall	57	(2)
National team‡
2006	Republic of Ireland U17	6	(0)
2008–2009	Republic of Ireland U21	2	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:11, 10 September 2013 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 10:35, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

Shane Thomas Lowry (born 12 June 1989) is an Irish Australian footballer who plays as a defender for Football League Championship club Millwall. His previous clubs include Aston Villa, Plymouth Argyle, Leeds United and Sheffield United. Born in Perth, Western Australia, he represented the Republic of Ireland under-17s and under-21s before choosing to pursue his senior international career with Australia.

Club career

Aston Villa

Lowry started his youth career with Australian club ECU Joondalup. He signed for Aston Villa in February 2005 along with fellow Australian Chris Herd. Lowry made 9 appearances for Aston Villa Reserves in the 2006–07 season, mainly coming near the end of the campaign. Lowry was also part of the squad that won the HKFC Philips Lighting International Soccer Sevens in May 2007. In June 2007, Lowry penned a 12-month deal to his contract.

Lowry made his professional debut in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League in an away fixture at Rapid Vienna.^[2]

On 17 September 2009, Lowry signed a three month loan deal with Football League Championship side Plymouth Argyle.^[3][4] He played 13 league games for Plymouth during his loan spell, where he impressed many and was recalled by Villa who required Lowry's services as cover after some injuries to defenders.

On 28 January 2010, Lowry agreed a deal which would take him on a loan to Leeds United until 13 March 2010, joining his fellow Australian international teammates Patrick Kisnorbo and Neil Kilkenny. He made his debut for Leeds against Colchester United, playing left back for Leeds. After an impressive debut, Lowry suffered a minor injury and had to be substituted and replaced by Bradley Johnson after 70 minutes. After missing the FA Cup replay against Tottenham Hotspur due to not being eligible, Lowry returned to the Leeds starting lineup in the following game against Hartlepool United.

Lowry started for Leeds in the Football League Trophy Northern Area Final, second leg game against Carlisle United, in which the game was lost with Lowry missing the decisive penalty in sudden death in the penalty shootout. After the game it appeared as though Lowry was attacked by a set of Carlisle supporters who had invaded the pitch.^[5] After starting every game for Leeds Lowry was dropped from the Leeds squad for the match against Brentford after suffering an injury, before returning to Villa when his loan spell ended.

On 25 March 2010 Lowry re-signed for Leeds for a second loan spell, with his loan lasting until the end of the season. Lowry started at left back for Leeds against Norwich City on his return to the club, a match Leeds went on to lose 1-0 in injury time. Lowry didn't overley impress the Leeds fans in his loan spell at Leeds, with him being mostly played out of position at Left back for the entire spell, he was substituted for Jonathan Howson in the final game of the season against Bristol Rovers with 1-0 down at the time, but his loan spell ended on a high as Leeds were promoted in 2nd place after scoring two goals to go on and beat Bristol Rovers and secure promotion to The Championship.^[6]

After Lowry's loan spell at Leeds was coming to an end, on 11 May he signed a new two year contract extension at Aston Villa. It was a remarkable few days for Lowry, he was promoted with Leeds, received a call up to Australia's World Cup Squad and on the same day he signed a new two year deal with Villa.

In January 2011, Lowry signed for Championship side Sheffield United until the end of the season^[7] making his first start for the Blades away at Coventry City a day later. Lowry made eighteen appearances for the Blades but with the club in decline he was unable to prevent them from being relegated at the end of the season.^[6]

Millwall

On 23 November 2011 Lowry was again loaned out to play in the Championship, this time to Millwall until 3 January 2012. He followed Aston Villa team-mate Nathan Baker who also signed on loan for Millwall two days earlier.^[8] On 27 January 2012, Lowry signed a 2-and-a-half-year permanent deal to Millwall for an undisclosed fee.^[9] Lowry played in all matches in the run up to the Lion's FA Cup semi final against Wigan at Wembley. Lowry scored a phenomenal long-rage free-kick against Charlton at the Valley on 16 March 2013.^[10]

International career

Although Lowry was born in Australia, he appeared for the Republic of Ireland U17 and U21 team due to his Irish parentage. On 11 September 2009 it was announced that Lowry had opted to make himself available to the Australia national team for his senior career.^[11] Lowry gained selection into the full Australia squad for the friendly match against Netherlands on 10 October 2009, in Sydney and for the Asian Cup Qualifier against Oman in Melbourne on 14 October 2009. This was his first call-up since choosing to pursue his international future with Australia. On 11 May 2010 he was selected as part of Pim Verbeek's 30-man provisional squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.^[12] However, he was not included in the final 23 man Australia World Cup Squad.

On 3 August, Lowry was announced as part of Han Berger's 18 man squad for a friendly between Australia and Slovenia on 11 August.

Club statistics

As of 10 September 2013^[13]

Honours

Leeds United

• Football League One: Runners-up 2009–10

References

External links

• Shane Lowry career stats at Soccerbase
• Millwall profile
• ESPN Soccernet profile
• Transfermarkt profile