Knee injury joy for Given

Aston Villa's Shay Given has been given the green light to resume training with the Republic of Ireland next week ahead of Euro 2012.

The 36-year-old, who is Ireland's first choice goalkeeper for next month's tournament, handed his coach Giovanni Trapattoni a worrying time when he suffered a knee injury in training. However, having consulted a knee specialist in London on Thursday, the problem was deemed not to be serious and Given will be able to rejoin the rest of the Ireland squad on the training pitch by the middle of next week. A spokesman for the Football Association of Ireland said: "Shay Given is on his way back from visiting his specialist in London. "The specialist has been in contact with the Irish medical team and agrees with their diagnosis and recovery management plan. "Shay is expected to return to full training on Wednesday." Given will almost certainly sit out Saturday's friendly against Bosnia at the Aviva Stadium with his place is likely to be taken by Sunderland's Keiren Westwood.