Retirement thoughts don’t stop Given taking aim at Roy

Shay Given has brushed aside Roy Keane’s criticisms of the Republic of Ireland following their defeat to Spain, including the former midfielder’s assertion that players and fans should not be content “just to go along for the sing-song every now and again”.

Keane called for a change of mentality after the side’s second convincing defeat in Group C of Euro 2012 and took exception to players who made a point of praising the Irish supporters who had once again sang their hearts out in Poland.

“I’m sure the fans have done that, but the players certainly haven’t,” said Given of the sing-song jibe. “Why shouldn’t the fans enjoy themselves? They’ve waited a long time to get to this stage. But we certainly haven’t come along for a sing song.

“We didn’t come here just to have a good time, we came here to try and get out of the group stage and progress in the competition. Unfortunately, we weren’t good enough but you can’t say we weren’t trying or that we didn’t take it seriously.”

The irony of Keane criticising someone like Given for their approach to international football should not be lost given the ex-Manchester United captain once complained about the goalkeeper’s relentless determination to earn as many caps as possible.

The Donegal man is 36 and has played 124 times for his country but indicated prior to Euro 2012 that he would consider his international future after it was over and he has now given the broadest hint yet that the end may be imminent.

“I don’t know, it’s all a bit raw at the moment because we’ve lost an important game. At some point I’m going to have to make a decision. I’ll go home and I’ll have a long, hard think about it. I think it might be time to step aside and let somebody else come into the side now.”

Whatever that decision, there is a body of opinion that Given should be one of those rested against Italy on Monday so that Keiren Westwood can be exposed to the rigours of football at such a high level.

New blood is unquestionably required for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers but, for now, it is the post-mortems from the Croatian and Spanish fixtures which continue to occupy the collective mind of a mourning nation.

“We knew it was a tough group before we came here,” said Given, “but we still thought we had a good chance to progress. The European championships are probably tougher than the World Cup in the group stage because it’s the elite teams of Europe and they’re all strong.

“No disrespect to teams like Saudi Arabia and New Zealand, there are always teams in the World Cup that you fancy getting a win against. You don’t get that at the Euros.”

The concern now is that a demoralised group of players could fold again against the Azzurri and finish with the worst record in the history of the competition since it was expanded to include 16 teams in England back in 1996.

As it is, Denmark hold the worst record having lost all three games in 2000, failing to score and conceding nine times while Bulgaria ended pointless four years later having netted just once and conceded nine. Greece, Romania and Turkey have all suffered similarly.

“It’s massively important,” said John O’Shea of Monday’s game. “We don’t want to leave this tournament with three defeats ... For the tournament and the group we will definitely be doing everything we can to get a result against Italy.”