REPUBLIC of Ireland boss Martin O’Neill has not given up hope of having veteran goalkeeper Shay Given available for the Euro 2016 finals.
Stoke’s Given, who celebrates his 40th birthday next month, completed a period of rehabilitation at the Aspetar orthopaedic and sports medical hospital in Qatar last month as he attempts to battle his way back from knee surgery.
O’Neill is keen to have his most experienced campaigner available to him this summer and is monitoring the situation.
“Seamus McDonagh (the national goalkeeping coach) is in close contact with him. He hasn’t played really since coming off against Germany, and that’s a fairly lengthy period of time, but if he’s making good progress, then we’ll see how it goes,’’ said O’Neill.
Given has not played since damaging his knee during the Republic’s famous 1-0 qualifying victory over world champions Germany in October last year with West Ham’s Darren Randolph, who replaced him that night, having started in the final group game against Poland and the play-off double-header against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Given retired from international football after the Euro 2012 finals having collected 125 senior caps, but resumed in a friendly against Oman in September 2014 and has since taken his tally to 133 after
re-establishing himself as his country’s number one before injury struck.
O’Neill said: “He’s played a big part for us since he came out of retirement. He’s been an exceptional goalkeeper for us, just an exceptional goalkeeper, so we’ll monitor his situation.”
Stoke manager Mark Hughes gave an update on Given’s recovery at his press conference previewing tomorrow’s trip to Chelsea.
“Shay is back out on the grass, which is encouraging,” he said.
“He is working with Andy Quy, our goalkeeping coach.
“It’s early days yet. He’s not doing all elements of the sessions with them at the moment but he is back on the grass, which is encouraging for him.
“It has been a long time but we’re hopeful that before the end of the season he will be fit and available.”
Meanwhile, Chris Coleman will speak to the Football Association of Wales next week in an attempt to thrash out a new contract before preparation for the European Championship ramps up.
The 45-year-old has successfully led Wales into their first major international tournament since 1958, but his contract expires after this summer’s finals.
The former Fulham and Real Sociedad boss is likely to attract attention from a number of club sides given his strong showing as the national coach - a position he took in 2012 following the death of Gary Speed.
Wales will come up against England in France, with Slovakia and Russia making up the rest of Group B, and Coleman revealed talks with the FAW will commence in the coming days - and he wants discussions to go more in-depth than simple contract negotiations.
“We talk next week,” Coleman said when asked about his future at a Euro 2016 coaching workshop in Paris.
“I will sit down for a chat about my contract which ends after the tournament. Once that is up we have the World Cup campaign.
“Next week will be about whether we are on the same page, what we want to do and how we will do it.
“It is not just about my personal contract but what we see with the structure and whether we do the things we need to do to make sure it is not a one-off. Qualifying cannot be a one-off and has to be continuous.
“For both parties, if we are being nice and settled (before the Euros), ideally yes. These contracts - sometimes easy and sometimes not - we will have to wait and see.”
Coleman admitted he misses the day-to-day involvement of club management but said the pride of coaching his country made up for it - and he is now looking forward to the finals as they come into view.
“You miss day-to-day, you miss games every week,” he said.
“We go to games every week and do our homework but the day-to-day thing is what you miss.
“When the games do come in international football, the pride and honour you get is untouchable so there is a trade-off.
“The summer will soon be on us but it is good, really good.
“We are building up. What we don’t want to do is peak too early. We still have a few months so we are building towards something and we need to be peaking for that first game against Slovakia. We have to prepare properly.”
Wales face Ukraine and Northern Ireland in friendlies later in March and, while Coleman knows those matches are crucial to preparations, he will not rush Gareth Bale back into action, with the Real Madrid man currently sidelined with a hamstring injury.
