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Noel Hunt

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Noel Hunt
Personal information
Full name Noel Hunt
Date of birth (1982-12-26) 26 December 1982 (age 41)
Place of birth Waterford, Ireland
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Reading
Number 10
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2003 Shamrock Rovers 25 (11)
2001–2002 → Waterford United (loan) 9 (5)
2003–2006 Dunfermline Athletic 80 (8)
2006–2008 Dundee United 64 (23)
2008– Reading 133 (33)
International career‡
2002–2003 Republic of Ireland U21 4 (1)
2007 Republic of Ireland B 1 (0)
2008– Republic of Ireland 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 8 December 2012
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 30 May 2010

Noel Hunt (born 26 December 1982 in Waterford, Ireland) is an Irish footballer, who currently plays as a striker for English Premier League side Reading. His brother is Stephen Hunt who plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Football League Championship.

Club career

Ireland

Hunt began playing junior club football in Waterford, before being signed by Damien Richardson for League of Ireland club, Shamrock Rovers in Dublin in 2001, aged 18. He made his competitive debut in a 3–2 League of Ireland Cup win over Shelbourne on 29 October 2001,[1] and scored his first competitive goal in the same competition in January.[2]

Rovers then loaned him out to his hometown club Waterford United where he scored five league goals in the First Division in the 2001–02 season. Scoring on his debut[3] in December 2001 he was later embroiled in controversy as the Blues were deducted three points due to incorrect registration.[4]

The following season was the last winter football season and in the shortened 27 game series, new manager Liam Buckley played Hunt and he rewarded the club by being top club goalscorer with eleven league goals and two FAI Cup goals to propel Rovers to the FAI Cup final and third place in the league.

During this time he also made his European debut playing twice for the club in the UEFA Cup. His final match for Shamrock Rovers was on the last day of the season, 24 January 2003, when he was substituted to a hero's reception in a game where Rovers beat Longford Town 3–2 to secure a place in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. He was awarded the Shamrock Rovers Player of the Year award that season. Hunt scored a total of 14 goals for the "Hoops".

Scotland

Hunt moved to Scottish Premier League club Dunfermline Athletic in a £100,000 deal on 27 January 2003,[5] going on to win the clubs' Young Player of the Season award for the 2003–04 season. His pace and aggressive running won praise from Dunfermline supporters, but his time at the club was disrupted somewhat by a recurring knee injury.[6] He joined Dundee United in June 2006 for £50,000,[7] scoring his first goal on 5 August against Rangers in his second match for the club, a 2–2 draw. On 14 October he scored against Celtic in a 4–1 defeat and scored the winner against Kilmarnock in November. His goals continued with winners against St. Mirren, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and Motherwell. However, after injuring himself scoring the winner against Motherwell in December, he failed to score again until his goal in the 4–0 away victory over Hearts in March 2007.

In the 2007–08 season, Hunt scored three times in the opening six league matches, as well as a goal in the League Cup Final, a match United lost to Rangers on penalties amidst refereeing controversy, during a 2–2 draw. On 31 October 2007 in a League Cup match against Hamilton Academical, he scored his first hat-trick for United in a 3–1 win.

Reading

On 23 July 2008 Hunt moved to Championship side Reading for an undisclosed fee rumoured to be around £600,000. Having taken the club's number 11 shirt, recently vacated by John Oster, Hunt joined up with the squad's tour of Sweden and scored his first goal in a 3–1 win over Halmstads BK on 29 July. [8]

In the absence of Reading manager Steve Coppell (who was already in Sweden), Director of Football Nicky Hammond said that although "Dundee United didn't want to lose Noel but understood his real desire to embark upon a new challenge with Reading Football Club. From my conversations with Noel, it is clear that he possesses the qualities of hunger and determination that Steve Coppell wants at this club as we attempt to regain a place in the Premier League."[9]

He played his first competitive game for Reading on 12 August 2008, scoring the deciding goal in a 2–1 win over Dagenham & Redbridge in the first round of the Football League Cup. He also scored on his second appearance on 26 August 2008, scoring the first of five goals by Reading in a 5–1 result against Luton Town.[10] Hunt scored his first league goals for Reading when he scored two goals in a 6–0 win over Sheffield Wednesday.[11]

In February 2012 Hunt was nominated for the PFA Player in the Community award.[12]

Hunt scored his first Premier League goal for Reading in the 2–2 draw with Newcastle United, heading them 2–1 up from a Jobi McAnuff cross. He scored his second Premier League goal for Reading in a 2–2 draw with Swansea a week later, volleying in from inside the box.

Career statistics

As of 4 November 2012

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2001–02||Shamrock Rovers||rowspan="3"|League of Ireland||-||-||-||-||2||1||colspan="2"|-||2||1 |- |2001–02||Waterford United||9||5||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||9||5 |- |2002–03||Shamrock Rovers||25||11||5||2||-||-||2||0||32||13 |- Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2002–03||rowspan="4"|Dunfermline Athletic||rowspan="6"|Scottish Premier League||12||1||4||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||16||1 |- |2003–04||13||2||3||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||16||2 |- |2004–05||23||1||3||1||1||1||1||0||28||3 |- |2005–06||32||4||1||1||4||0||colspan="2"|-||37||5 |- |2006–07||rowspan="2"|Dundee United||28||10||1||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||31||10 |- |2007–08||36||13||3||0||5||5||colspan="2"|-||44||18 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2008–09||rowspan="5"|Reading||rowspan="4"|Championship||37||11||0||0||2||2||colspan="2"|-||39||13 |- |2009–10||10||2||0||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||12||2 |- |2010–11||361 ||10||3||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||38||10 |- |2011–12||39||8||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||39||8 |- |2012–13||Premier League||7||2||0||0||3||1||colspan="2"|-||10||3 Template:Football player statistics 334||16||5||2||2||1||2||0||43||19 Template:Football player statistics 3171||41||14||2||12||6||1||0||198||49 Template:Football player statistics 3129||33||3||0||8||3||0||0||139||36 Template:Football player statistics 4332||89||22||4||21||10||3||0||377||103 Template:Football player statistics end

Notes
  • Includes 3 play-off appearances

International career

Hunt made his debut as a substitute for his country at Rugby Park in an Republic of Ireland under-21 national football team friendly game against Scotland in February 2003. He went on to play four times at this level scoring once in Tbilisi. He was named in the Republic of Ireland "B" squad on 8 November 2007, for the match against Scotland on 20 November at the Excelsior Stadium in Airdrie,[13] which ended in a 1–1 draw.[14]

He was called up to the senior squad for the Poland friendly in November 2008, after injuries to Robbie Keane and Aiden McGeady,[15] making his debut in the game, coming on as a substitute on the 60th minute.[16]

His second cap for the Republic of Ireland came in the World Cup Qualifying tie against Italy in Bari, Southern Italy. He came on as a substitute for his then Reading colleague, Kevin Doyle.[17]

Hunt started his first competitive game in Ireland's last World Cup qualifying tie in October 2009.[18]

Outside of Football

In 2012 Hunt became a joint owner with former Clare hurler Davy Fitzgerald of new pub The Dugout which is located on Abbey Street in Ennis County Clare.[19]


Honours

Club

Reading

Individual

See also

References

  1. ^ [1][dead link]
  2. ^ [2][dead link]
  3. ^ "Registration required". Irish Times.
  4. ^ "Registration required". Irish Times.
  5. ^ "Pars win striker Hunt". BBC Sport. 28 December 2002. Retrieved 1 January 2008.
  6. ^ "Hunt requires surgery". BBC Sport. 10 May 2003. Retrieved 1 January 2008.
  7. ^ "New faces welcomed to Tannadice". BBC Sport. 20 June 2006. Retrieved 1 January 2008.
  8. ^ "Halmstads Bollklubb - 1-3 mot Reading". hbk.se. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  9. ^ "Noel Hunt joins Reading". readingfc.co.uk. 23 July 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2008.[dead link]
  10. ^ "Five-star Royals ease through". readingfc.co.uk. 26 August 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
  11. ^ readingfc.co.uk http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/MatchReport/0,,10306~43893,00.html. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)[dead link]
  12. ^ readingfc.co.uk http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~2604873,00.html. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)[dead link]
  13. ^ "Connor and Gartland earn 'B' call-up". RTÉ. 8 November 2007. Retrieved 7 January 2008.
  14. ^ "Ireland pegged back by late strike". The Irish Times. 20 November 2007. Retrieved 7 January 2008.
  15. ^ "McGeady and Keane ruled out of Poland friendly". fai.ie. 16 November 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  16. ^ "Ireland suffer defeat for first time under Trapattoni to clinical Poland side". fai.ie. 20 November 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  17. ^ "Spirited Ireland come from behind to take a precious point from Italy". fai.ie. 28 April 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  18. ^ "Ireland complete World Cup first phase unbeaten". fai.ie. 14 October 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  19. ^ "Downing a pint to Davy's venture". Irish Examiner. 9 July 2012. Retrieved 27 November2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

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