Shay Given: We have a few armed guards with us

Armed guards with stern faces have been an unpalatable but staple part of the diet at major tournaments ever since the Munich massacre at the 1972 Olympic Games and talk of security and terrorism is especially rife at these European Championships.

Shay Given has already experienced that heightened awareness with the usually mundane trip to and from training interrupted by the “nerve-wracking” sight of armed guards jumping out of vehicles for something as ordinary as a traffic jam.

An entire nation really is holding its breath here.