Twenty-nine years ago, in 1987, Shay Given was in goal for the Naomh Padraig, Lifford under 14 team that won a Donegal U14 B Championship.
They were the first Lifford team to win a championship at any grade when they defeated Urris 0-6 to 0-3 in a replay.
Given’s brother Marcus was the full-back on the team. But it was the performance of the young goalkeeper that caught the eyes.
“In goalkeeper Shay Given, they have a real talent,” reads the match report.
“He saved his side on many occasions.”
The more things change, the more they stay the same: How often could that sentence be written about his Irish performances?
At school in St Columba’s College, Stranorlar, Shay was hitting the high notes – as a striker!
[adrotate group=”43″]It wouldn’t be long before he was called to stand between the sticks.
Picture caption: Shay Given pictured in the St Columba’s College Stranorlar team from 1991.
In 1991, St Columba’s – with Shay in goals – won the U16 All-Ireland title.
They beat St Aloysius College, Athlone 1-0 in the final at St Mel’s Park.
Alan Oliver got the winning goal that day – he subsequently joined Peterborough.
The report that week said: “St Columba’s 15-year old goalkeeper Shay Given produced a magnificent save as early as the third minute to justify Jimmy Gleeson’s faith in him when Adrian Carberry’s half-volley was destined for the top corner of the net before Given flung himself across goal to superbly divert the ball away.
“Given’s early save gave the young Lifford lad confidence and he went on to produce a faultless display throughout the ninety minutes.”
[adrotate group=”38″]Things hadn’t gone so smoothly the previous week. In the senior All-Ireand final at Finn Park, St Columba’s were paired with Dublin’s Greenhills.
After three minutes, St Columba’s were two-nil down; Shay was called ashore. Peadar Molloy was put in goals, but St Columba’s lost.
“Granted, Given was at fault for the opening goal, but whether the decision to take the young lad off so early in the the match was the right one was questionable,” was how one scribe saw it.
As he played between the jumpers for goalposts in the back garden of his Rossgier home, Shay Given always dreamed that was diving about under the big spotlights of some of the worlds’ great stadiums.
Lost in his own world, little did the young Lifford lad realise that one day he wouldn’t have to dream.
[adrotate group=”71″]He has played 134 times for the Republic of Ireland and is in France with the Boys in Green for Euro 2016, his third international tournament after the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2012.
Shay Given, sixth from left front row, with the Naomh Padraig Under-14s in 1987 after they won the Championship
Given appears unlikely to play as Martin O’Neill’s number one, but his experience means he remains a vital cog.
Fourteen summers ago, the world shook from the epicentre in Saipan.
For a few short weeks the country was in the grip of World Cup fever. Most were in the grip of Roy Keane’s rage, too.
On the field, Ireland drew with Cameroon and Germany before beating Saudi Arabia to set up a secondround meeting with Spain – and Ireland bowed out after a gut-wrenching penalty shoot-out.
“It is strange to think now that Spain were hanging on against Ireland, but they were. We missed a penalty and they were delighted to finish 1-1,” says Given.
[adrotate group=”72″]“I didn’t save any of their penalties in the shoot-out, something I’m still disappointed about.
Trips to Dublin to watch the Republic of Ireland were nothing new to Given when Mick McCarthy handed him his debut against Russia in March 1996.
“When I supported the Irish team as a kid, I used to go to the hotel and get the players’ autographs,” he says.
“That was special enough for me. If someone had said you’ll play for your country one day… I’m from Lifford in Donegal, you’d think no chance. I’d never have imagined making this many appearances.
[adrotate group=”70″]“Before the games, we’d go to the team hotel and collect autographs.
Packie Bonner was my favourite because he was the goalkeeper. On the way back, we’d stop halfway with other friends, and have an Irish sing-song. We wouldn’t get back until three in the morning, I was young but I’d enjoy the craic.”
Given’s graduation to this level has been borne out of a hard-working philosophy that was always his way.
Then again, it had to be.
Aged five, Shay suffered the horrific agony of losing his mother, Agnes, to cancer. She’s never far away from his thoughts and he carries with him a relic to every game, leaves it in the back of his net and says a quick prayer.
[adrotate group=”46″]The ritual remains the same.
The Given family had a business in his young years, selling vegetables and he talks about spending ‘eight or nine hours a day on my hands and knees’ before going around door-to-door selling them.
His dad, Seamus, moved to a pitch-and-putt business not far from the family home.
All the while, the young Shay was forging a bit of a name for himself.
After his exploits with St Columba’s, he belied his youthful years when Robbie White called him into the Lifford Celtic senior team.
Lifford won the Donegal League Premier Division title that year and went all the way to the semi-finals of the FAI Junior Cup.
[adrotate group=”67″]The wheels were already in motion and it was only a matter of time before he signed for Celtic.
And the rest is history…
As he gears up for his third major finals with Ireland, the memories of
Ibaraki in 2002 come floating back and the memories of the streams of
people lining the roads in Lifford when he came home are as vivid now as they were then.
So, too, are the painful thoughts of Poland four years ago, when Ireland limped out and Given retired into the sunset before coming back for a last hurrah under Martin O’Neill.
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