2009/10 has been good for 20 year old Shane Lowry. We got to see a bit of him during last summer’s Peace Cup tournament and he looked a fine prospect, as many of the youngsters did playing alongside the regular first team players.

He made 3 senior appearances early in the season; coming on as a substitute in both legs of the Europa League tie against Rapid Vienna and also late on in the FA Cup win over Brighton at Villa Park. He followed that up with a successful loan spell at Plymouth and two spells at Leeds, notably playing in their crucial 2-1 victory over Bristol Rovers to secure automatic promotion to the Championship.

Last night he was named in the provisional 30 man Socceroo World Cup squad and it was announced today that Shane has also signed a new contract which will keep him at Villa Park until June 2012.

Hopefully he makes the cut to the full 23 man squad to travel to South Africa and although he may not actually see any action on the pitch, it will certainly finish a year with a wide spectrum of experience for the youngster. I don’t know what his prospects are like for the first team with Stephen Warnock and possibly Nicky Shorey ahead of him in the pecking order, but he certainly looks like he could be quite an asset.

Congratulations and good luck to Shane.

[Pic Credit: Plymouth Argyle]