Farewell to ‘force of nature’

In his long and ultimately record-breaking career as an Ireland international, nothing quite underlined the importance with which Shay Given was viewed by his peers than the extraordinary lengths to which the management team were prepared to go in order to get him on the pitch for the European Championship finals this summer.

Alan Kelly, goalkeeping coach and a former Ireland No 1 himself, spoke in Poland about the “less is more” approach that would be required to get the Donegal man’s battered body in optimum shape for the finals.

In the run-up to the opening game against Croatia, Given’s input into training had been hugely restricted by injuries to his knee and calf, not to mention an attack of blisters, yet Kelly summed up the keeper’s always passionate desire to play for his country when he remarked: “Wild horses wouldn’t keep him from being on that pitch.”