Given makes case for place in defence

Ireland v San Marino: While Steve Carr and Stephen Ireland will miss this week's European Championship qualifier against San Marino with injury and minor illness respectively, Shay Given confirmed he is more than ready to put his two-month lay-off behind him.

The Newcastle goalkeeper turned up in Dublin yesterday and promptly signalled his customary desire to start for Ireland on Wednesday night.

Barely eight weeks after he suffered a perforated bowel in a Premiership game against West Ham, the Donegalman feels he has recovered from the surgery that followed and rested quite long enough.

"I feel all right and I'm just itching to play again," he said. "I've never missed all that much football so it's been hard over the last few weeks.

"Training's been okay over the last week or so, though, and while the manager (Glenn Roeder) probably thought I'd benefit from the extra few days, I definitely feel okay to play again.

"I don't know whether Stan has me down to play on Wednesday but I'm itching to get out there, to be honest."

Given suffered the serious injury when diving at the feet of Marlon Harewood, so it would be understandable if he were a little unsettled by the prospect of getting into the same situation again.

As he talks about what happened, though, he seems relaxed about it and entirely resigned to the risks attached to his role as his team's last line of defence.

"At the time it was certainly worrying because it was an internal injury," he says. "When it's a knee or an ankle you pretty much know how serious it's going to be, but with it being internal I was certainly more worried because I had no idea how serious it was.

"It's just one of those things, though," he shrugs. "Goalkeepers have to dive at the feet of other players; we go in with our hands or our heads while they go in with their boots.

"Sometimes I feel we're left a little bit open but I'm sure a lot of strikers think we're overprotected.

"Like everything else in football, there'll be different opinions about it but I can't see the situation changing too much."

Given's absence from Cyprus was, of course, widely seen as a significant factor in Ireland's humiliating 5-2 defeat, but the 30-year-old expresses sympathy for his replacement, Paddy Kenny, in the context of a night when the Irish defence did their goalkeeper few favours.

"I feel for Paddy because if you take one goal out of the equation I don't think there's a whole lot that you could say he did wrong. Obviously, he made a mistake coming for one cross that led to a goal, but otherwise I don't think he really did anything wrong - yet he conceded five goals, which for a goalkeeper is very hard to take."

Anything other than a clean sheet on this occasion is, of course, unthinkable, but Given is adamant that the attitude of the home players going into the game should be no different to what it would be if the opposition were one of the group's top teams.

"I hope all the action is down the other end of the pitch, but sometimes it's like that for an international goalkeeper . . . you have nothing to do through the game and then you have to make one really important save near then end. When it comes, you have to be concentrating to make the save in those circumstances.

"It's the same for everyone, though," he continues. "You've got to approach it in exactly the same way you would a game against Germany, particularly now because it's been a difficult start to the campaign and we can't afford any more slip-ups."

Pat Devlin, meanwhile, suffered a string of withdrawals from his Ireland B squad over the weekend, with Kevin Derry, Stephen Ward, Billy Clarke, Daryl Murphy, Shane Supple and Seán St Ledger all crying off ahead of tomorrow night's game against Scotland.

Reading's Shane Long and UCD goalkeeper Darren Quigley have been called into the squad, and Devlin confirmed yesterday the Cardiff City midfielder Stephen McPhail would captain the team at Dalymount Park.