‘Shane’s ear is nearly hanging off. It was an horrific tackle’

THE Aston Villa defender will sit out June’s visit to Skopje where Ireland will be hoping to bury the memories of their two previous, disastrous visits to the Macedonian capital after picking up a second yellow card of the campaign two days ago.

“We were talking about this before the game during the pre-match meal. This thing about two yellow cards is... the chances of a defender getting two yellow cards is 100% going to happen.

“They have to change that rule. I don’t want to go on about it and I don’t want this to be the headlines tomorrow. We were just chatting about it. Two yellow cards, it’s a given that a defender is going to get them.”