Hat-trick hero Troy Parrott has Ireland believing again

Ireland’s Troy Parrott and Séamus Coleman celebrate after the match against Hungary at Puskás Aréna. Picture: Stephen Gormley/Inpho

You love sport for days like this.

Ireland played Hungary twice in three months. They led for about 90 seconds in total of those 180 minutes. But they were the seconds that counted. From the depths of despair against Armenia to the heights of ecstasy in Budapest in just 68 days, Ireland can now dream about the World Cup in North America for at least another four months.

The winning goal came in the fifth minute of five in added time. Full back Liam Scales leapt like a salmon for a knockdown that would have made Niall Quinn proud, and there was Troy Parrott, hat-trick hero Troy, with the deftest of touches to ease the ball into the Hungarian net. Ireland were 3-2 up. Cue pandemonium across the country.

You couldn’t help but think this might be a turning point, the day when this generation of Irish footballers turned from callow boys to men.

Troy Parrott takes a moment to catch his breath with the match ball in the dressing room after scoring a hat-trick against Hungary. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

They’ve had to take a lot of stick for years now. Finally, this was a day when the collective became more than the sum of their parts.

“Unbelievable. It’ll be hard to beat that,” 87-year-old Pat Murray — from Glasheen in Cork but Budapest-native for the night — said in the aftermath. 

He couldn’t comprehend what he had just seen. In the past nine weeks, Pat had been to Armenia, Portugal, and now Budapest following the Boys in Green, as he has done for the past 70 years. Ups and downs, but the best was saved for last.

From 45 minutes on, the streets of Dublin were deserted as the population crowded round TVs in a throwback to Italia 90.

Until the 80th minute, it was easy to think that it wasn’t to be Ireland’s day.

Hungary had been by and large the better side, more controlled, more threatening. That all changed when Finn Azaz found Parrott in the Hungarian box, and the Dubliner produced two touches of the utmost quality to guide the ball home over keeper Dénes Dibusz.

Ireland celebrate after the Fifa World Cup 2026 Group F qualifier match against Hungary. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

The remaining 15 minutes were a siege of the Hungarian goal, and you’d need a hard heart to say Ireland didn’t deserve it in the end.

Parrott had scored two goals against Portugal last Thursday, a night he described as the greatest of his life. Now he had a better one.

The softly spoken Dub has come through a lot of hard times to get to where he is now, banging goals in Holland, and taking Ireland to a World Cup play-off.

In tears in the aftermath, he struggled for words: “I love where I’m from. This means the world to me. What a night.”

Who’s to say there aren’t better to come?