The 19-year-old gets his chance as Royals team-mate Kevin Doyle and Sunderland forward Stephen Elliott are both injured.

After scoring three goals in his last five club games, Long has now been swiftly rewarded with promotion to the international scene.

And, after facing Long in Manchester City’s 2-0 Barclays Premiership defeat to Reading on Saturday, centre-back Dunne is backing him to shine.

“He’s very good, and has done really well in the Premier League so far,” said Dunne.

“He is quite direct – he likes to get the ball down and just run at you. He has pace and is certainly a handful.

“He’s not a common type of player in football at the moment because people tend to lay the ball off and run without it.

“But he likes to take you on, take the ball past you and have a run at goal.

“That will make him useful against San Marino because they won’t be used to that kind of player.

“I certainly believe he has the attributes to make it at this level.”

Manager Steve Staunton will be looking to Keane and Long to score the goals to clinch another victory over San Marino following the 5-0 rout at Lansdowne Road in November.

Expectations are high, particularly as San Marino’s last home game saw them lose 13-0 to Germany, although Dunne is also cautious.

“When we played them in November you could see the difference between the two teams, so it’s a game we should win, and win comfortably,” added Dunne.

“But we have to guard against complacency because getting the three points is the be-all and end-all.

“If we get goals, then great, but we have to be professional and make sure we win the game.”

Dunne feels coach Giampaolo Mazza’s side will do nothing more than defend in numbers to keep the score down.

“They were happy with a 5-0 defeat last time out because it was an improvement, so they’ll be thinking 2-0 or 3-0 will be another improvement,” Dunne said.

“If that’s the case then they’ll be quite happy to sit back and take their chances on the break.

“That may make it difficult for us to draw them out and create our own chances, although we did it well enough in Ireland.

“The problem is, with Germany beating them 13-0, that has made it unrealistic for the other teams, with people expecting them to be beaten like that all the time.

“For us, the result is everything. We’d love a good performance, but we’re in a situation where we just need the points because we can’t afford to drop any more.”