’Best ever’ Dunne will be a big miss

In the week that was in it, and with the long awaited Euros kick off now just 24 hours away, a conversation with Kevin Kilbane could only begin with one question: was he too now ready to come out of international retirement?

“I’m younger than Shay, aren’t I?,” the 37-year-old chuckled. “So that will be alright.”

Quite apart from the superior longevity of goalkeepers, a legacy of back problems from his own long and illustrious career means we definitely won’t be seeing ‘Killa’ in the green shirt again, but he’s pleased his old team-mate Given — one year his senior — is giving it another crack “I told him not to retire two years ago so I’m happy he’s back,” said Kilbane, on a flying visit to Dublin. “I know there’ll be one or two question marks over it simply because of his lack of football over the last couple of years. That’s the only downside. I still think he’s more than capable of being in the squad. He’s as good if not better than the two we have. So I think it’s a bit of a no-brainer for Martin to call him up.”