The Ireland stalwart between the sticks remembers Saipan, his Manchester City spell and Magpies magic with Sir Bobby
Interview Ian Murtagh
SHAY GIVEN
You played 354 times for Newcastle across 12 years, yet the only trophy you lifted in the North East was the Championship title with Sunderland, during a loan spell early in your career. Isn’t that ironic?
I suppose it is. In fact, it’s a bit embarrassing! I was a kid on loan [from Blackburn] when Sunderland won promotion under Peter Reid, and did fairly well there. I’d love to have won some silverware at Newcastle, but the way I look at it now is that countless outstanding players have entire careers without winning a thing, and that doesn’t make them any less great. The bottom line is that most of the teams I was in weren’t quite good enough to win anything. That sounds brutal, but it’s true.
You also won the FA Cup with Manchester City, as an unused substitute in the final...
To be honest, that medal doesn’t mean a lot because I didn’t really contribute. But I was part of the group and – having endured the heartache of losing cup finals at Newcastle in the past – I enjoyed the emotion of all my team-mates winning on the day.
Looking back on your career, would you say there were tremendous highlights but some crushing disappointments as well?
Definitely, for club and country. I was lucky enough to enjoy some brilliant times with the Republic of Ireland, but losing to Spain at the 2002 World Cup in a second-round penalty shootout was a real low point. Even today, that one hurts a lot. We’d outplayed Spain in normal time and extra time, and I remember thinking in the minutes leading up to penalties that after Packie Bonner’s heroics at Italia 90, it was my turn now. Both of us hail from Donegal and he was a huge hero of mine, but sadly I couldn’t follow in his footsteps. We missed three penalties. Ian Harte had even missed a spot-kick in normal time, changing his mind at the last second. That’s the way it goes sometimes.
Still, having amassed 134 caps for your country, kept 52 clean sheets and gone to three major tournaments, the good must have outweighed the bad?
Yeah, absolutely, and do you know what? I enjoyed supporting Ireland almost as much as I did playing for them. Growing up in the Jack Charlton era, everyone fell in love with the national team and I was no different. He raised the bar: the Ireland team I played
