Given: Lazarus is back

It’s getting really close now, the hairs are starting to stand up on the back of my neck

Shay Given and the ball in the back of the net – not an image which would normally gladden the heart.

But yesterday at Ireland’s training ground in Montecatini was different, as the Donegal man belted a couple of right-footed shots past Keiren Westwood. And there was further confirmation that his troublesome right knee has apparently come good when he resumed his customary place between the posts, twisting, turning, leaping and diving with apparent ease.

“Lazarus is back, yeah,” Given laughed later, adding that he now feels fit and ready to play in Monday’s final Euros warm-up game against Hungary in Budapest.

“I feel fine,” he confirmed, as he left the training ground. “It feels like I’ve sort of been boxed off for the last week or so. It just felt good to be out there, flying around like an idiot. It’s so frustrating to be sitting out, because you get bored in the hotel and you can’t get that out of your system by getting out for a couple of hours doing your job and having fun with the lads. That’s where you want to be.

“Today was the main test for me and it was totally fine. The proof is in the pudding when you can train like that and dive around with no problems and you’re happy in your head as well. Relieved too. Because, yes, of course I was worried. We’ve been building up for the last ten years to get into this position and then in the second day of training you get a bit of an injury to your knee.

“That’s football sometimes. We’ve seen players in the past who have missed major tournaments so thank God it’s not serious. I went to London last week just to get a second opinion because the specialist had seen it before and he was happy with it, and that gave me peace of mind as well.”

Having missed the friendly against Bosnia in Dublin and Tuesday’s warm-up game against a local representative team in Tuscany, next Monday’s match in Budapest has assumed additional significance in Given’s mind.

“I wouldn’t want Croatia to be my first game,” he explained. “You’ve got to test it like I did out there today, test it all week, and then test it against Hungary. That’s what you do.”

And there was further encouragement for Given yesterday in the sight of his fellow injury worry John O’Shea also returning to take a full part in training.

“Yeah, me and John have been spending a fair few hours in the gym together,” he said, “so it’s nice that he’s back out there on the pitch as well — and looking sharp. That’s good.”

But, of course, it hasn’t all been good news and sweetness and light in the Irish camp this week.

“It was tough on Tuesday for one of our colleagues and a tough decision, I’m sure, for the manager as well, but we all move on together,” said Given of Kevin Foley’s departure.

“As I say, it’s a tough decision for the manager to make but that’s what he gets paid for. He’s made tough decisions in his career before and I’m sure he’ll make them again in the future.

“I’m sure Kevin will be at home supporting the team. We all want Ireland to do well. If it was me that wasn’t playing and Westy was playing then I’d be the same. It’s not about an individual, it’s about the team and the nation.

“Of course, we’re sorry that a couple of the players have missed out, Keith Fahey the week before and now Kevin. But there are other players who are out of the squad who weren’t even called up at the start. And I’m sure that wherever they are, they’re all with us. We know that the whole nation is behind us and that’s important.”

Meanwhile, as the sun beamed down, Given was happy to extol the virtues of Montecatini.

“It’s a lovely place where we’re staying and it’s nice that we’re not stuck out in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to go for a coffee and have a walk into the village rather than being stuck in the hills and looking at the sheep. It’s a nice change.”

Which all sounds most pleasant except, of course, that Given and his mates are here to work, not play.

“I’m excited, of course I am,” he said of the impending Euros. “It’s been in the back of my mind all season. Every single training session and every single game, you’re building up to this. And it’s getting really close now. Even talking about it, the hairs are starting to stand up on the back of my neck.”