'Everyone's crying': Troy Parrott in tears as he sends Ireland to dreamland
"It's the first time I've cried in years," said Troy Parrott as he spoke about his hat-trick for Ireland against Hungary. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
"It's a fairytale," said an emotional Troy Parrott after he scored a dramatic late winner for Ireland in the World Cup qualifier against Hungary. "You can't even dream about something like that."
The goal - a carbon copy of Robbie Keane's 2002 World Cup strike against Germany - completed Parrott's hat-trick and sealed an improbable spot for Ireland in the play-offs.
"I'm really, really emotional right now," Parrott told Tony O'Donoghue on RTÉ. "The tears of joy... what a night, what a night.
"This is why we love football, because things like this can happen. I love where I'm from, so this means the world to me, my family's here.
"It's the first time I've cried in years as well, I really, really can't believe it. Everyone's crying.
"I said against Portugal that this is what dreams are made of, but this tonight, I don't think I'll ever have a better night in my whole life."
After going a goal down early, Parrott equalised from the penalty spot after 15 minutes. It appeared to take an age for the 23-year-old to strike the ball.
"The referee told me to wait for the signal, so I was waiting for him to blow his whistle, but then he never blew it, so I looked at him and then he told me I could take it," Parrott explained.
"I'd rather have that pressure on me, and whatever happens will happen, than to put it on somebody else and leave it out of my hands - I'd rather it be in my hands."
He added: "Look, I think everyone wrote us off at the start of the group, and I couldn't have said it enough, that there's always a chance, and we've taken the chance.
"I think everyone should be proud of the group of players that are over there. To go down in the game twice and then to come back like that, yeah, it's beautiful."
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