Forde focus was my No 1 priority, reveals O’Neill

Martin O’Neill gave David Forde plenty of advance warning that he would play in Tbilisi because the manager didn’t want Shay Given’s return to the squad to become a major distraction.

“I hadn’t read too much about it but when I was being questioned about it (by the media), I felt it was becoming an issue,” says O’Neill, who informed Forde of his decision early in the week.

“Shay wanted to come back but he’d never been promised anything. It’s obviously difficult for him, to have played one competitive game for Aston Villa, although he was in really great form last year at Middlesbrough.