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.

This is Given’s third major tournament and he admits to never having seen anything like it.

“We have a few armed guards with us — and I wouldn’t want to mess with them. That’s the first time I’ve had that at a tournament and they are travelling everywhere with us. I suppose we’ll get used to it, but it does seem a bit weird.

“I’ve been telling our security guys, “We don’t need you anymore, you can go back to Dublin.”

They’re not too happy about that. “It’s a difficult time in France after the attacks last year and it’s the same for every team, we have to make sure everyone is safe.”

Safety clearly isn’t negotiable but there are some unfortunate side effects that must be accepted.

Martin O’Neill hasn’t sat down with the squad yet to tell them what they can and cannot do but it seems unlikely that the players will be wandering far for coffee.

The FAI was criticised for accommodating its players in the centre of a Sopot holiday resort that was the hub for thousands of partying Irish fans four years ago, but there will be far less likelihood of the two groups crossing paths in France.

“It is probably good and bad,” said Given. “The fans probably think that we are too big-time to talk to them. It’s not the case at all.

“We have to stay in the one position. We are told by security people we have to stay in the one place.”

None of which seemed to infect a high-intensity training session yesterday.

Darren Randolph may be favoured to start in goal but there is enough doubt over O’Neill’s intentions in that area after using three goalkeepers during the qualification process to ensure that Given and Keiren Westwood will do their all to leave O’Neill with much to ponder.

“I think we all have,” said Given. “The manager wants competition in that position. Hopefully, I’m not here to make up the numbers. I want to start. I feel fit, I’m good to go. I’ve trained every day for two-and-a-half weeks and played the last game of the season at Stoke and last week in Cork.”

The starting XI aside, the other conundrum under discussion as tonight’s tournament start approaches is whether the increase in the number of teams due to make the knock-out stages will have on opening games that are traditionally cagey by nature.

“We know how big it is. Belgium and Italy are arguably the strongest two teams in the group, but Sweden will be saying the same: ‘If we can get off with a win against the Irish then it sets us up well’. So we’re the exact same and we’re confident we can get a result.”

What hasn’t changed since 2012 are the perceptions held about Ireland’s schedule from four years ago with the team supposedly starting off with the most winnable of the fixtures before facing into a pair of challenging ties.

Croatia’s imposing 3-1 win in Euro 2012 left a rather large hole in that theory and Given dismantled it further yesterday by claiming the Croats were, in his opinion, a superior side to the Italian one that also beat Ireland on the way to the final.

Sweden may well be the weakest of Ireland’s three opponents in Group E this time but they do possess the one genuine superstar in the group in Zlatan Ibrahimovic who dominated yesterday’s media mixed zone thanks to the infiltration of a number of Swedish journalists.

“He’s a good player but they have some other good players as well,” said Given who has watched their friendly win against the Welsh in Stockholm last Sunday.

“You can’t single him out because other players will score — as they proved against Wales.

“There was three goal scorers and he wasn’t one of them. He is a fantastic player - one of the best centre forwards in the world. We’ve got to keep him quiet but we’ve got to keep the rest of them quiet as well.”