Richie Baker
Personal information
Full name	Richard Baker
Date of birth	April 17, 1980 (1980-04-17) (age 29)
Place of birth	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Height	5 ft 7 in
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Shelbourne
Youth career
	Stella Maris
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998-2003 2004 2005-2006 2007-2008 2009-present	Shelbourne New England Revolution Shelbourne Drogheda United Shelbourne	N/A 20 (0) 41 (7) 28 (4) 23 (4)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of November 2, 2009. * Appearances (Goals)

Richie Baker (born April 17, 1980 in Dublin, Republic of Ireland) is an Irish footballer currently playing for League of Ireland First Division club Shelbourne. Baker primarily plays a right-sided winger.

Contents 1 Career 2 Honours 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Career

Richie, who served his footballing apprenticeship with junior club Stella Maris, is the brother of Shamrock Rovers striker Dessie Baker, alongside whom he made numerous appearances for Shelbourne in the late nineties and early noughties. Richie made his Shelbourne debut at the age of 18 against Shamrock Rovers in August 1998. During this period, Baker was an important part of the Irish national team youth teams, playing for the U-18's, U-20's, and U-21's.

The highlight of Baker's career to date was arguably his 83rd minute free-kick which earned Shelbourne a 1-0 victory away to Sloga Jugomagnat of the Republic of Macedonia in a Champions League qualifying match on July 12, 2000. This represented the first away victory achieved by an Irish side in European competition for almost two decades. Shels won the tie 2-1 but were eliminated by Norwegian champions Rosenborg in the second qualifying round.

Richie won both the League of Ireland championship and the FAI Cup with Shels in 1999/2000 and three further league titles with them in 2001/02, 2003, and 2006. He spent the 2004 season with the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer ^[1] before returning to Shels for the beginning of the 2005 season. He was sent off in the last game of the 2006 season versus Bohemians but Shels still went on to win the game and clinch the title.

Following Shelbourne's financial meltdown at the end of 2006, Baker signed for Drogheda United for the 2007 season^[2]. Baker picked up his fifth league title when United were crowned League of Ireland Premier Division champions at the end of the 2007 season. Baker spent two seasons at Drogheda United before financial problems at the County Louth club curtailed his spell. Despite training with Bohemians and Glentoran during 2009 pre-season Baker failed to find a new club to continue professional football. On February 9, 2009 Baker made a return to Shelbourne, now playing in the First Division, for a third spell where he will be reunited with his former Shels boss Dermot Keely and will be aiming to fire the reds back to Premier Division football^[3].

[edit] Honours

League of Ireland Championship: 5

• Shelbourne - 1999/2000, 2001/02, 2003, and 2006
• Drogheda United - 2007

FAI Cup: 1

• Shelbourne - 2000

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Richie Baker's profile at www.extratime.ie
• Richie Baker's profile at www.shelbournefc.com
• Richie Baker's profile at www.droghedaunited.ie

v • d • e Shelbourne F.C. – current squad MF Baker · DF Brennan · MF Cassidy · DF Crawley · GK Delaney · DF Doherty · MF Doyle · DF Farrell · FW Flood · FW Griffiths · DF Hedderman · FW Hynes · DF Keely · MF McAllister · MF McGill · DF McMillan · MF C. O'Brien · MF M. O'Brien · DF O'Reilly · DF Quigley · MF Scully · DF Synnott · GK Whelan · Manager: Keely