Given: Ireland´s Euro drought ´mad´

Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given says the time has come to end his country’s poor record in European Championship qualification.

Ireland have not appeared in the tournament since 1988, when they failed to get out of the group stage in the former West Germany.

Victory in a two-leg playoff against Estonia will bring an end to their 23-year absence from the competition, with the first match in Tallinn on Friday.

“You know there’s people of 25 who’ve not even seen Ireland at a European Championships and that’s really mad to even think about that,” Aston Villa goalkeeper Given said.

“It is the biggest game because it’s the game coming up next and they don’t get much bigger than these two games.”

“So we’re all excited about them and as I say, there’s pressures, there’s expectations as well but you’ve got to take that on your shoulders and respond to that.”

Given was a member of the Ireland team who reached the Round of 16 in the 2002 World Cup, before losing to Spain in a penalty shootout.

He was also between the sticks when Thierry Henry’s now infamous handball helped France progress from a playoff against Ireland to reach the 2010 World Cup finals.

“I don’t want any more hard-luck stories, don’t write any of them stories,” Given said.

“I just want it to all go to plan hopefully, and everyone plays right on top of their game hopefully and (we) get the results.”

“Because there’s been too many hard-luck stories, too many what-ifs, what-could-have-beens and stuff.”

“Hopefully it’s about us getting qualified and having a real buzz back in the county and a real excitement leading up to a major championships again.”

Given hopes Ireland will be able to turn those painful experiences to their advantage against Estonia, who have never qualified for a major tournament.

“We have got an advantage, we’ve got the experience of being here before and I think it’s the first time they’ve qualified for a playoff situation,” he said.

“They’ve had some great results, so we can’t be taking them lightly. We can’t turn up thinking it’s going to be an easy game because we know they’ve got some very good players as well.”