Trio miss Irish training

Newcastle keeper Shay Given, Bohemians striker Glen Crowe and Leeds midfielder Stephen McPhail all missed training today as the Republic of Ireland continued their preparations for Saturday’s European Championship qualifying tie against Albania at Lansdowne Road.

Given, capped 50 times by his country, suffered a calf muscle strain yesterday when diving to save a ball while Crowe has not trained since limping off with a knee injury in his club’s 1-0 defeat by fellow Dublin side St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday.