We’re in it to win it, insists Given

It’s a straightforward question, but the answer from Shay Given reveals a vaulting ambition which, the keeper admits, might have some people questioning his sanity.

Asked what would represent a successful Euro 2012 for Ireland, the Lifford man replies: “A good tournament would mean picking up the trophy... people will read that now and think ‘he’s off his trolley’ because of some of the teams we’re playing against and because we’ll be facing some of the best players in the world. But if you go into a tournament, you’ve got to be in it to win it.

“We want to go there and try to win the tournament and if we can’t do that, then we want to get as far as we can. To say we just want to get out of the group is being negative. We’ve seen in the past what happened with Denmark and Greece. They got one result and then it spurred them on to the next result and then there’s a snowball effect and, before you know it, you can be a long way in the tournament.”