At 23 he found form at Leigh RMI and frightened the unibond and conference divisions with his pace and simple goals. It was fair to say the Derry Dasher well and truely earnt Leigh RMI fifth place in the conference in 2001, after helping them to promotion the previous year.
For months Crewe had scouts watching him and reporting back and in summer 2001 Dario and Neil Baker went ahead and bid after Tranmere showed too much interest. After rejecting Tranmere Steve Jones signed for Crewe after a few days of speculation. Admired by Leigh RMI faithful his £150k return was enough to allow him to move on, after scoring 37 goals in 80 games in a Leigh RMI shirt on the wing.
The Irishman found league football tough going and not much praise was going his way after his only 4 games in his first Alex season. Jones' first start failed terribley and in a 1-0 defeat at Sheff Utd he was taken off on the hour mark. When he was loaned out to third division Rochdale for the last 3 months of the season there was doubt amongst fans if Jones was up to League Football at all and after one goal for Rochdale in 9 games it seemed as if Rochdale were more than happy to take him off our hands but the Derry Dasher was ready to take Division Two by storm...
Jonah started the season with 5 minute sub appearances but when Dean Ashton and Rodney Jack were ruled out for the top of the table clash against QPR it was down to Steve Jones to woo the home crowd on his own debut. He certainly did that. His pace saw QPR's normally strong defence in pieces as he took advantage of two defensive mistake's to lead the Alex to a important 2-0 win.
He was impressive enough to leave Dario with no choice but to leave him in for the Stockport goal and he impressed again with another goal in a 4-1 at Stockport. A six game drought was ended in the 8-0 win at home to Doncaster when he tapped in the ball from 1 yard.
At the start of January 2003 and strikers falling over crippled left right and centre Jonah had to carry the strike force on his own. Four goals in 3 games saw him with worthy praise. His best goal yet came at Colchester when, at 1-0 down, Steve Jones brought it level with a superb curler into the top left corner. He later went on to score the winner in the 1-2 win.
A last second goal at Huddersfield saw us win 3 more points through Jonah but at the start of February scored his last three of the season - two against Northampton and one in the first 30 seconds at Notts County. Jones suffered badly with injuries. First he was out for a game when Tony Dinning of Wigan went in late, high and two footed from behind saw him with a suspected broken leg - thankfully not the case. On his return though he was kicked in the face, accidently, by a Wycombe defender which saw him smack his face on the advertising board. It saw him sidelined for over a month.
He never managed to regain full match fitness but for the first time was called up by Northern Ireland. He caught the headlines on his debut against Italy when he force Buffon into two fantastic stops. Then impressed at home to Spain in a 0-0 draw.
With Crewe promoted to Division One there was a few doubt's if Jones could actually do it in Division One. Would he need time to adjust? His answer was simply no. Ten goals in the opening part of the season has seen Jones become one of the first names on the team sheet and on the Northern Ireland squad list.
He score's the tap-ins and he scores the stunners, his work rate is never questioned no matter what his form and he is praised continually by opposition fans.
Seven-teen though is one lucky figure. Having made his debut in the number 17 shirt Jones has never lost a game in a Alex shirt when he's scored. Seventeen games Jonah has scored in for Crewe and never have Crewe lost them games. The 27 year old proving any doubter's he had a couple of years back completely wrong. He's showing the like's of Justin Cochrane and Luke Varney that non-league talent can make it to the best and the three of them are showing all the youngsters in the lower of the lower leagues that whilst Cardiff's and Wigans are paying £1million plus for Premiership has beens the likes of Crewe are always willing to take a risk on the grass roots kids.
When Jones is joint 4th top scorer in the league and Justin Cochrane is showing Premiership class - who are we to complain?
