Fifty nine thousand witnessed it. The rest of us will never forget Troy Parrott's finest hour
GOLDEN BALL: Troy Parrott, his name now indelibly marked alongside the great moments in Irish football, kisses the match ball after scoring a hat-trick in the Puskás Aréna in Budapest. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
MIRACLES do happen, it transpires.
That’s what Heimir Hallgrímsson stated was necessary after losing to Armenia in September but beating a Portugal side ranked 100 places ahead of the minnows gave them a shot at redemption.
And, once again, Troy Parrott has proved the man for the big occasion – scoring his first-ever international hat-trick at the Puskas Arena to snatch a World Cup playoff spot.
Twice Ireland trailed Hungary before 59,411 fans in Budapest and twice Parrott levelled.
Deep into stoppage time, the striker pounced with his outstretched studs from Liam Scales’ knockdown to poke the ball past the advancing Dénes Dibusz.
Cue delirium. Séamus Coleman’s return to the team last month was crucial and he deservedly enjoyed the acclaim from the fans but moreso Parrott, whose star was overshadowed by the emergence of Evan Ferguson over the past two years.
Parrott’s trio bulges his goalscoring haul this season for AZ Alkmaar and Ireland to 19. That’s all the more admirable given a knee injury sidelined him for a month.
Ireland atoned for that horror show in Yerevan by beating the top two seeds in the space of three days.
Ultimately, their fate rested on the top games against the Hungarians. Early concessions in both meetings gave Ireland an uphill struggle but waiting until the death to lead for the first time over the two matches was ideal. They couldn’t afford for this rematch to end 2-2 as well.
A packed stadium anticipated Hungary moving a step closer to a first World Cup for 40 years and they were on their feet after just four minutes.
Slacking defending contributed to Dániel Lukács being allowed to steer his diving header beyond Caoimhín Kelleher.
The striker appeared to be offside from Dominik Szoboszlai’s delivery, the last of three quickfire early corners, but marking was non-existent.
Ironically, despite Hungary manager Marco Rossi talking up Ireland’s potency from set-piece, it was their vulnerability at the other end which contributed to their opener.
There was little they could do to prevent Barnabás Varga’s rocket of a second, which regained them the lead by the interval following Parrott’s penalty.
Ireland’s two-goal hero from Thursday’s win over Portugal replicated his haul by dinking home another equaliser with 10 minutes left before his last-gasp intervention.
Hallgrímsson has adopted an adventurous approach by adding a third striker in Johnny Kenny. “We had nothing to lose at that stage,” he remarked.
It seemed the Sligo man, on from the hour mark his debut, had squandered the best opportunity of an equaliser in the final minute when his snapshot from an acute angle was brilliantly saved by Dibusz. Parrott had other ideas.
Nobody, even the Hungarian players slumped on the turf at full-time, could begrudge Ireland their spot in next Thursday’s draw for the playoffs. They’ll have a semi-final to navigate to earn a shootout for a place at the World Cup in North America next summer.
: D Dibusz; L Nego (A Mocsi 90), A Szalai, W Orbán, M Kerkez; D Szoboszlai, A Schäfer (C Styles 63), A Tóth (B Bolla 76), R Sallai (D Redzic 90), B Varga; D Lukács (B Otvos 63).
: C Kelleher; J O’Brien (R Manning 46), N Collins, D O’Shea; S Coleman (F Ebosele 60), J Cullen (J Taylor , J Molumby (J Kenny 60), L Scales; C Ogbene (A Idah 53), F Azaz; T Parrott.
: Espen Eskås (NOR).
59,411.
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