Givens: I told them we should be ashamed of ourselves

Albania 1 Ireland 0

He made no attempt to disguise his reaction to Ireland’s latest defeat at this level: “I told them we should be ashamed of ourselves. We have lost to the worst team I have ever seen play at this level” he said, “and that tells you all you need to know about our performance.”

The match was played on a playing surface that was no better than any commonage you care to mention in Ireland and the surface may have contributed to the knee injury suffered by Mark Rossiter that caused the Irish much concern last night. Givens said: “It looks a bit serious at the moment and I am hoping it is not cruciate ligament damage, but we’ll have to wait and see.”