Legendary Irish goalkeeper and current Aston Villa №1, Shay Given, has just announced his retirement from international football. He did this on his personal Twitter profile. Here are his exact words:

“After a lot of thought and consideration, I have made the most difficult decision to retire from international football. It’s been a great honour and privilege to play and on occasion captain the team. I shall remain a huge fan of the team as I have been all my life and I wish them every success for the future.I wish to thank all the players,managers,staff & most importantly the most wonderful fans in the world. Finally I would like to thank my wife Jane,my 2 amazing kids and my entire family for their unwavering support over the 16 years & 125 caps.”

This decision, while not all that surprising, is going to sadden not only Ireland’s supporters, but football fans from across the continent as well. Because Shay is a model pro, and is one of the top goalkeepers in European football. Question remains though- who will be Ireland’s next first-choice goalie? Keiren Westwood seems to be the favourite, but we’ll find out for sure in the near future. But whoever it is, it’s going to be hard for them to reach Given’s potential and his ability to save almost any shot. Shay retires after playing an incredible 125 times for his country.

Tags: Aston Villa, goalkeeper, international football, Keiren Westwood, Manchester City, Newcastle, Republic of Ireland, retirement, Shay Given