Shane Lowry

Shane Thomas Lowry (born 12 June 1989) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a centre-back or a left-back for the Malaysia Super League club Negeri Sembilan and the Australia national team.

His previous clubs include Millwall, Perth Glory, Aston Villa, Plymouth Argyle, Leeds United, Sheffield United, Leyton Orient, Birmingham City and Al Ahli.

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.

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 nine 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 International Soccer Sevens in May 2007.

In June 2007, Lowry signed 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.

On 17 September 2009, Lowry signed a three-month loan deal with Football League Championship side Plymouth Argyle.

Lowry made his Plymouth Argyle debut on 19 September 2009, playing 90 minutes, in a 3–1 loss against Newcastle United.

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.

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.

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.

Despite signing a contract with the club, Leeds United was considering re-signing him for the second time ahead of the 2010–11 season, but never happened.

Though he appeared in two matches as an un-used substitute for Aston Villa in the 2010–11 season, Lowry continued to be remain out of the first team and in January 2011, Lowry signed for Championship side Sheffield United until the end of the season 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.

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.

Lowry made his Millwall debut three days later, where he played 90 minutes, in a 0–0 draw against Crystal Palace.

His impressive display at Millwall soon earned a loan extension.

Lowry finished his 2011–12 season, making twenty-two appearances and scoring once.

Weeks later on 13 January 2012, Lowry was sent-off in the 22nd minute after stamping on Nikola Žigić, which saw Millwall lose 6–0.

Three years on after signing for Birmingham City, Lowry stated, quoting: "Whatever club I play for I fully commit to that club at the time. I play with my heart on my sleeve. Sometimes in the past I have gone overboard but I was a younger player then, I have learned a lot from these types of experiences. But I am an aggressive player, that's the way I like to play and I can't change the way I play. I will use my experience now and be a bit more clever."'

While serving a suspension, Lowry signed a two-and-a-half-year permanent deal to Millwall for an undisclosed fee on 27 January 2012.

Lowry then made his first appearance for the club since joining Millwall permanently, playing 90 minutes, in a 2–1 loss against rivals' West Ham United on 4 February 2012.

Right way through March, Lowry was sidelined with ankle injury that kept him out for weeks.

After making his first team return against Cardiff City, in a 0–0 draw on 31 March 2012, Lowry scored his first Millwall goal, which he scored the only goal in the game, in a 1–0 win over Coventry City on 17 March 2012.

In the 2012–13 season, Lowry regained his first team place, playing in the left-back and central defense positions until he missed one game after picking up a yellow card for the fifth time against Bristol City on 2 October 2012.

After making his first team return as a left-back, Lowry then provided assist for the winning goal when he set up a goal for Chris Woods, in a 1–0 win against his former club, Leeds United on 18 November 2012.