Irish fans on the move for Euro 2012

It's been a long time coming but Ireland are going to the European Championships for the first time since 1988.

Up to 20,000 Irish fans are expected to travel to this year's tournament with most heading out today ahead of Sunday's clash with Croatia in Poznan.

As in 1988, fans are using every possible means to get to the matches with camper vans, motor bikes and bicycles among the transport options being used.

One football fan nearly ended up having a miserable Euro 2012 when it emerged that he'd left three match tickets behind at a shop in Dublin Airport this morning. Thankfully, Damian Coughlan is to be reunited with his tickets after a relative contacted airport police following an appeal made via Twitter.

Excitement is building ahead of the opening game of the tournament between Poland and Greece in Warsaw at 5pm Irish time today, which will be followed by the match between Russia and the Czech Republic in Wroclaw at 7.45pm.

Ireland are in one of the toughest groups in the competition with Croatia, Italy and Spain - three sides in the world's top 10.

The latest news from the Irish training camp is that Shay Given remains a doubt for Sunday's game but that all the other squad members are fully fit.

Given trained with the rest of the squad in Gdynia this morning, joining in drills and taking part in an 11-aside match. Today's session was the last one in Gdynia before their journey south for the opening game on Sunday.

We'll have the most up-to-date coverage from Euro 2012 in both print and online. Follow @emmetmalone and @carlomalley on Twitter for news from the training camp, stay with irishtimes.com for news, liveblogs and more and check out the Irish Times newspaper for the best analysis from all the games in Poland and Ukraine and for Frank McNally's Euro2012 Road Trip.