Shay Given retires from international action

[IanD]

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/internat ... al-gloves/

A true Legend in Irish Football - 16 years and 125 caps, he also captained his country too.

Best of luck Shay.

[Cianostays]

One of the absoloute greats and a hell of a guy to boot.

Thanks for everything Shay

[blockhead]

Best of luck in the future Shay, thank you for 16years of excellence.

We've been lucky over years with top class goalies, who is the next incumbent?

[Sauvignon Blank]

One of the greats of Irish football.

A proud Irishman and gentleman.

Kept us alive in a lot of games.

[fourthirtythree]

Myself and the oul grey fella were in some corporate seats in Croke Park for an Ireland soccer match. Afterwards we wandered down and found ourselves in the car park by mistake. I was chatting to a couple of journalists when I noticed Shay Given surrounded by a bunch of them chatting away. I really noticed two things: everyone else was on the bus and they had to send someone to get him, he really wouldn't say no even on a disappointing evening he made himself available; he was far, far too small to be an international keeper of his ability (he's definitely smaller than advertised).

Like Keane in the mid to late 90s it was Shay I felt sorry for when we didn't qualify for tournaments: he deserved it, he should have had more international success and it wasn't his lack of ability or application that denied him it. If others were like him, he might have had it. He turned up *always*, he did his job to the best of his great ability, and he did so with grace and humility. He's pretty much the antithesis of what we think soccer players are like these days.

[Ulster's Best]

Myself and the oul grey fella were in some corporate seats in Croke Park for an Ireland soccer match. Afterwards we wandered down and found ourselves in the car park by mistake. I was chatting to a couple of journalists when I noticed Shay Given surrounded by a bunch of them chatting away. I really noticed two things: everyone else was on the bus and they had to send someone to get him, he really wouldn't say no even on a disappointing evening he made himself available; he was far, far too small to be an international keeper of his ability (he's definitely smaller than advertised).

Like Keane in the mid to late 90s it was Shay I felt sorry for when we didn't qualify for tournaments: he deserved it, he should have had more international success and it wasn't his lack of ability or application that denied him it. If others were like him, he might have had it. He turned up *always*, he did his job to the best of his great ability, and he did so with grace and humility. He's pretty much the antithesis of what we think soccer players are like these days.

Totally agree. My attitude to the ROI team has been soured by the events of the past couple of years re players switching (it's gone from full support to indifference to McClean-induced hostility). For the first time ever this summer I wasn't fully behind an Irish team at a major tournament. But because of Given in particular I couldn't quite bring myself to cheer the opposition regardless of my contempt for McClean.