Career
Richie, who served his footballing apprenticeship with junior club Stella Maris, is the brother of Dessie Baker, alongside whom he made numerous appearances for Shelbourne in the late 1990s and early 2000s (decade). Richie made his League of Ireland and 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.
He represented his country at the UEFA U-19 Championship in Sweden in 1999 where he won a bronze medal .
Baker is the only player to have won 2 PFAI Young Player of the Year awards .
The highlight of Baker's career 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 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. 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 was re-united with his former Shels boss Dermot Keely. He struggled for fitness on his return to Shelbourne but still made 25 league and cup appearances for Shelbourne in 2009, scoring 5 goals.
Baker was not offered a new contract by Shelbourne at the end of the 2009 season and on 4 March 2010 he signed for Bray Wanderers.
Read more about this topic: Richie Baker
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“The problem, thus, is not whether or not women are to combine marriage and motherhood with work or career but how they are to do so—concomitantly in a two-role continuous pattern or sequentially in a pattern involving job or career discontinuities.”
—Jessie Bernard (20th century)
“The 19-year-old Diana ... decided to make her career that of wife. Today that can be a very, very iffy line of work.... And what sometimes happens to the women who pursue it is the best argument imaginable for teaching girls that they should always be able to take care of themselves.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“John Brown’s career for the last six weeks of his life was meteor-like, flashing through the darkness in which we live. I know of nothing so miraculous in our history.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)