Looking after no.1
Given, hugely experienced with Ireland with 56 appearances in eight years and still only 27 years of age, looks set to fill the goal-keeping position with Ireland for another decade. But who is ready to replace him if ever he is injured? That's a conundrum Brian Kerr has wrestled with over the past 12 months, ever since the retirement of Alan Kelly (formerly Blackburn Rovers) and Dean Kiely (Charlton Athletic) left him without a recognised deputy.
The desire to find a regular second choice goalkeeper was complicated, of course, by the need to chase qualifying points in the European Championship, so, opportunities for experimenting were extremely limited.
A further complication was the determination of Given to play in as many matches as possible. He is a perfectionist by nature and the popular Donegal man is committed to using every possible minute of every possible match to gain as much experience as possible.
Kerr has managed to give two up-and-coming goalkeepers time on the pitch in recent friendlies, with Nick Colgan (Hibernian) and West Brom's Joe Murphy enjoying some action. Now Kerr is ready to offer a similar opportunity to 25-year-old Paddy Kenny.
Kerr said after training in Bray yesterday: "I think the goalkeeping was an issue because there was no other goalkeeper available to us, other than Shay, after the retirement of Dean Kiely and Alan Kelly who had played in a lot of matches.
"That was certainly something that needed to be rectified and we did our best ... by playing Nicky once the opportunities were there and we've given Joe Murphy a little go as well."
Colgan was playing regularly earlier this season while on loan with Stockport but since he returned to Hibernian he has again been short of first team matches.
Said Kerr: "Unfortunately, Nicky has not played as regularly as he or I would have liked at club level and now we've brought in Paddy [Kenny] who's playing regularly. I will try and give him some time on the pitch.
"The situation has improved for us because Graham Stack has played a bit at Arsenal this year. Joe Murphy got a couple of games recently at West Brom and played very well.
"As well, young Brian Murphy has been playing at Swansea; Wayne Henderson had a good loan spell with Tamworth Town and is doing well at Villa; Dean Delaney has played for Port Vale's first team; ... there's a lot of young goalkeepers there with a lot of potential but we need to have an answer if something goes wrong with Shay."
Kerr referred to the testing circumstances of Dean Kiely's Irish debut when he came in as substitute half-way through a European Championship play-off tie against Turkey in Dublin. His next match was the away game in Bursa which finished scoreless.
"When Dean played against Turkey on his debut he did fantastically. But I would like us to have somebody experienced before we run into a situation like that, so, it is important that we use the friendly games in that light; that we try to introduce players.
"But it is equally important that we keep the balance of experience in the team that's required to put in a good performance and secure the result that we would all be happy with. That's what we're looking for because results together with performances create a bit of confidence."
Kenny was born in Halifax and is a qualified engineer. He played non-league football with Bradford while studying for his degree and did not step into the professional game until he joined Bury in 1998.
He said yesterday: "It was hard work playing football and studying engineering but I'll always have something to fall back on if football does not work out.
"I was working in a factory which made industrial tools and I had to be able to fix the machinery as well when that broke down. It's a different world I live in now but what I had to do makes me appreciate what's happening a little bit more."
He explained his Irish background, saying his father was born in Longford and his mother's parents were also Irish "I was brought up in a very Irish household," he said, "supporting Ireland was the natural thing for me to do and I used get a bit of stick at school. There is an Irish centre at Halifax and I played for them as a schoolboy."
Kerr was at pains to point to the excellent record of the current Czech Republic team: they have gone 20 matches without losing.
"Playing the Czech Republic is not a match for throwing caution to the wind and throwing people into the wind. We could approach it that way but I think when we're playing the best teams, I think it is fair to the public to try and put out as good a team as we possibly can and to get the balance of it right," he said.
He confirmed that he will play Clinton Morrison (Birmingham) at centre-forward alongside Spurs' Robbie Keane but declined to confirm his midfield selection. He admitted having three left-sided midfielders in the squad Kevin Kilbane (Everton), Damien Duff (Chelsea) and Andy Reid (Nottingham Forest) added to the puzzle.
Celtic's Liam Miller should also be involved at some stage: "Liam had not played in a long time until last week and then he played 75 minutes on Monday, 40 minutes on Thursday and 15 minutes on Sunday, and he's been all over the place, but he was delighted to be called in."
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