A tearful Troy Parrott saluted the Republic of Ireland’s resilience after his brilliant hat-trick kept their World Cup dream alive in dramatic fashion.
The 23-year-old AZ Alkmaar striker, who scored both goals in Thursday night’s remarkable 2-0 win over Portugal, fired Ireland into second place in Group F and March’s play-offs with a winner deep into stoppage time as they twice fought back from a goal down to beat Hungary 3-2 in Budapest.
Parrott, who had earlier converted a 15th-minute penalty and equalised with 10 minutes of normal time remaining, told RTE: “I’m really, really emotional. They’re tears of joy. Ah, what a night, what a night.
“This is why we love football, because things like this can happen. Look, I love where I’m from, so this means the world to me. My family is here…
“It’s the first time I’ve cried in years as well, I really, really can’t believe it. Everyone is 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.”
Daniel Lukacs had given the hosts a fourth-minute lead at the Puskas Arena and after Parrott’s coolly-taken penalty had dragged the visitors back into it, Barnabas Varga blasted Hungary in front once again.
However, Heimir Hallgrimsson’s men simply refused to be beaten on a night when only victory would be enough and after making the most of Finn Azaz’s astute pass to square it, Parrott ran on to Liam Scales’ knockdown to snatch victory at the death.
He said: “That is really a fairy tale. You can’t even dream about something like that. Honestly, I have no words to describe my emotions right now.”
Ireland last won three successive games – against Georgia, Moldova and Austria – during qualification for the 2018 World Cup, but the stakes were significantly higher this time around with Hallgrimsson’s men having taken just a single point from their opening two fixtures.
But if a scrappy 1-0 victory over Armenia in Dublin was expected, Thursday night’s 2-0 win over Portugal was not and the odds of them repeating the feat in Budapest were long.
However, the never-say-die spirit of the Ireland teams which have prospered in the recent past was there in abundance to revive a campaign which looked to have died in Yerevan in September.
Parrott added: “I think everyone wrote us off at the start of the group, and I couldn’t have said it enough. 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 is beautiful.”
