Given's injury not a cause for concern

Shay Given and Stephen Ireland are both expected to be fit for the Republic's European Championship qualifier against Slovakia on Wednesday despite having both picked up injuries in Saturday's uninspiring 1-0 defeat of Wales at Croke Park.

The Newcastle United goalkeeper, who is in line to captain the side in the absence of the suspended Robbie Keane, had to have several stitches applied to a wound in his knee sustained in a clash with Craig Bellamy during the first half of Saturday's game. He subsequently missed training yesterday to have a scan and Steve Staunton said it would take between 24 and 48 hours before he will be entirely sure whether the Donegalman is fit enough to play.

As he left the stadium on Saturday, however, Given played down the seriousness of the problem and spoke confidently about the prospect of captaining the side in Keane's absence. Assuming he does feature against the Slovaks, the occasion will be doubly significant for the 30-year-old as he will also equal the record number of international appearances made by a goalkeeper for the Republic. The current tally, set by Packie Bonner, is 80.

Ireland, meanwhile, also expressed confidence yesterday that he will be available to play after being publicly ruled out immediately after Saturday's game by the manager due to a groin strain.

"The injury's not as serious as I thought it was yesterday," said the 20-year-old.

"I'll be having a scan on it but it feels okay. In the warm-up to the game I felt a bit of tightness and as the game wore on it got worse but I think I came off at the right time, before I did any serious damage."

The Manchester City midfielder is certain to start again on Wednesday if fit after scoring the Republic's winner on Saturday for the second consecutive game of the campaign. The contest, played out in front of 72,539 people at Croke Park, made for a distinctly disappointing spectacle but the result leaves the Irish third in their qualifying group behind Germany and the Czech Republic.

The Germans now lead their closest rivals by three points and are in a very strong position to win the group after beating the Czechs 2-1 in Prague on Saturday thanks to two goals from Kevin Kuranyi.

In Nicosia, Slovakia came from behind to beat Cyprus 3-1 but they will travel to Dublin without either Jan Durica or Matej Krajcik, both of whom are suspended for Wednesday's game after picking up suspensions on Saturday.

Staunton will also have to make at least one change due to Keane's suspension - the result of an innocuous second-half tangle with Carl Fletcher - while Stephen Hunt may have to be accommodated from the start after impressing as a second-half substitute against the Welsh.

Faced with alargely negative media to Saturday's performance, Staunton yesterday accused journalists of misquoting Lee Carsley in the Sunday papers. The quote was in relation to a question about the manager's instructions regarding changes to the team's midfield line-up and the decision to play Stephen Ireland "on the wing" for the start of the game.

Carsley's reply: "He just named the team, really, and didn't really go through any roles, to be honest," was widely cited as evidence of the manager's poor performance and Staunton was clearly annoyed yesterday.

"Lee was misquoted," said the Louthman. "We know the carry-on in this country by now. It's great. Players say things, the first bit is taken, the rest is forgotten about. He said something but if the whole sentence was quoted there wouldn't be a problem. He was very unhappy last night. We didn't know what was said but we found out the truth. At this moment in time in this country, the quotes are great."

In fact the quotes used were accurate and Carsley's next few lines were: "But I've played against Man City before and Stephen has played out there. He wasn't really playing right wing, he was playing tucked in, so it's a position that suits him," made no impact on the point being made.

The Everton midfielder, however, later stated that he had misunderstood the question and that he had been talking about the changes made to the team's midfield while the game was in progress and no opportunity had been available to convey instructions from the bench.

With almost all of his more established players likely to be available for selection on Wednesday, Staunton has allowed Celtic defender Darren O'Dea and midfielder Darron Gibson - on loan to Royal Antwerp from Manchester United - to travel to the Netherlands with Don Givens' under-21 squad for tomorrow night's friendly international in Venlo.