SHAY GIVEN was keeping a low profile yesterday amid reports that Blackburn Rovers are intent on blocking what appears to be an imminent move to Newcastle United.

Within days of Kenny, Dalglish's arrival at St James Park, Given has been identified as the likely target for the manager's second big signing, following his acquisition yesterday of the Portuguese under 21 defender, Raul Oliveira.

Out of Blackburn's first team and out of contract at the end of the season, the young Irishman is still rated highly enough by Dalglish to warrant a bid in the region of £2.5 million.

The problem is that Blackburn's chairman, Robert Coar has a long memory - long enough to trace the club's decline to the sale of Alan Shearer and David Batty to Dalglish's predecessor at Newcastle, Kevin Keegan. And according to insiders at Ewood Park, Coar is grimly determined to prevent Given joining Newcastle.

That, perhaps, was the reason for renewed pledges yesterday by Blackburn's caretaker manager, Tony Parkes. "Our attitude is the same as when the talk of a move for Shay Given first surfaced - we hope to persuade him to stay and pledge his future to the club," he said.

"Everybody here recognises his talent which, with luck, is going to make him one of the best goalkeepers around. But the fact is that there is no way, on current form, that Tim Flowers can be left out of the team."

"But speculation about Given refuses to go away - and that's unfair to the player. With luck, he's going to have a long career, but he has to be allowed to develop without this kind of added pressure.

Flowers's current form is such there is speculation that he could be back in England's squad as deputy to David Seaman for the World Cup meeting with Italy at Wembley on February 12th.

Competition of that quality is hard to handle, but the 20 year old Irishman believes that he can cope with any challenge, if given the chance. That self belief - first noticed by Packie Bonner when lie coached Given as a youngster in Donegal - remained steadfast, even after Lou Macari had, effectively, shown him the gate at Celtic three years ago.

At the end of his apprenticeship, he was offered a modest wage with no signing on fee which he rejected. Just a couple of months later, Macari's opinion had changed and he was prepared to make a substantial cash settlement to the player, but by then, Given had signed for Dalglish at Blackburn.

To that extent, he has an emotional bond with the Ewood Parc club. Equally, however, he is acutely aware of the fact that he cannot afford to put his international career at risk by staying out of first team football in the Premiership indefinitely.

There was a painful reminder of that fact when Mick McCarthy dropped him for the World Cup games against Macedonia and Iceland. And one suspects that there is little hope of him returning to displace Alan Kelly unless he redresses that situation before the resumption of the World Cup programme in Macedonia in April.

McCarthy, who plans to name his squad next Tuesday for the warm up game against Wales at Cardiff on February 11th, is staying well clear of the latest controversy, but on one point, he is specific.

"Somebody recently accused me of emotional blackmail by leaving Shay out of my team for the last two games and I took exception to that," he said.

"He's still a registered Blackburn player who is contracted to them until the end of the season and only he can decide what he should do, or the moves he should make, between this and then.

"My responsibility is to look after Ireland's team and select the players who are most likely to get us to the World Cup finals. But I haven't altered my view that I prefer people to be playing regularly at the highest level of club football."

It is valid to suggest that unless Given resolves his problems at Blackburn fairly quickly, his chances of building on the promise of a spectacular introduction to international football, will remain blurred.

Meanwhile, Celtic confirmed yesterday they will honour a commitment to play an Ireland XI in Packie Bonner's testimonial game at Lansdowne Road on May 18th.

The game had been placed in doubt by the Scottish Cup final, which is scheduled for May 24th, and the changed date of Ireland's World Cup game against Liechtenstein - from June 7th to May 21st.

Mick McCarthy believes the match will help sharpen his squad - for the competitive fixture.