GROUP EIGHT REPUBLIC OF IRELAND V CYPRUS: Mary Hanniganfinds the trip home for Wednesday's Cyprus game a happy release for Shay Given

HE'S NEVER lacked enthusiasm for international duty but, these days, it would be easy to understand why Shay Given would relish it even more than usual, offering, as it does, a refuge from the madness that is the never ending soap opera running at his place of employment, Newcastle United Football Club.

A little bit of calm away from the increasingly stormy weather circling the club, is, evidently, how he is viewing this trip home, with, fitness permitting, his 90th cap and World Cup qualifying points to be won on Wednesday night at Croke Park against Cyprus.

Was there, he was asked, much difference between the styles of Giovanni Trapattoni and Joe Kinnear, Newcastle's temporary manager? "I don't know what to say to that," he smiled, recalling the swear-fest that was Kinnear's press conference the week before last. "He had a few interesting things to say alright," he laughed, "he got a few things off his chest." And with that Given's phone rang. "That'll be him now," he grinned.

"Ah no, Joe was just frustrated with things that were being written and said about him, so he needed to get those things off his chest - and he certainly did that. But he deserves credit for coming up to Newcastle and trying to keep things going at such a turbulent time at the club, and it really probably never has been so turbulent."

If the 32-year-old had won as many trophies at Newcastle as they have had managers since he joined from Blackburn Rovers in 1997 he'd be more than a contented man, but he admits the prospect of winning his first trophy at the club looks as bleak as it ever has done in his time. But, he insists, he remains loyal to the club and has no plans, for now, to move on.

"I've been there 11 years or so, it's my home now, a big part of my life. I feel as much frustration as the fans do at the minute, but I am a fan too. We've been through a lot of low points the last few years but this is the ultimate turmoil, I suppose. The easiest thing in the world to say would be 'I want to leave', but I don't want to do that. Hopefully we can't go any lower than this, hopefully we can get investors in. Look what happened at Manchester City and how things have changed there because of it. We need something like that to happen Newcastle, and if it does I want to be part of it."

Life on the international front is, he says, infinitely more pleasurable. And while he was careful not to be directly critical of Steve Staunton's management his praise of Giovanni Trapattoni suggested that he and his team-mates had a significantly better idea of what is required of them when they go out on to the pitch.

"Well, the manager is very adamant about shape, he drills it in to us exactly how he wants us to play, when we have the ball and when we haven't, so yes, you do benefit from having a manager who tells you exactly what your role is. It was just such a great coup for us to get a manager of that experience and that quality, when he walks in that door he has instant respect because of what he has achieved in the game."

If the second anniversary of the 5-2 nightmare that was that trip to Cyprus fell last week it wasn't one noted by members of squad, although Given admits it's not a performance or result that will easily be forgotten, not least for the six players who started that night in Nicosia - Richard Dunne, John O'Shea, Kevin Kilbane, Aiden McGeady, Robbie Keane and Damien Duff - who are likely to start on Wednesday.

"Has it left scars? It has and it hasn't. We're just focusing on Wednesday because nothing will change those results (the other the 1-1 draw at home to Cyprus), they are part of history, they're past. But what they do is make us more aware of the danger Cyprus pose, they certainly aren't minnows anymore. They're a good outfit and we'll have to be on our game to beat them.

"But we're in good shape, four points from the first two games, both away, and now we've three home games in a row so we have a chance to put some points on the board. There was a lot of negativity in the last campaign, from the fans and you guys, but that's all gone now.

"There is a big contrast in the atmosphere, we have a manager with experience, we're all that bit more experienced, and as they always say you learn a lot more from disappointments, and we've had a few."