Sensational comeback as Troy Parrott hat-trick in Hungary sends Ireland into World Cup play-off

Hungary 2 Republic of Ireland 3 

The Republic of Ireland are through to the play-off round of the FIFA World Cup after the most unthinkable comeback against Hungary in Budapest.

Troy Parrott was the hat-trick hero with his goal third in the sixth minute of injury time to send the Boys in Green through at the expense of the home side.

Before that drama, it seemed like another campaign would end on a familiar low for a group that has not enjoyed a major tournament since 2016.

And yet… Parrott, having scored in the 80th minute to offer Ireland a lifeline, was in the right place at the right time. 

From a Cork perspective, Caoimhín Kelleher made a string of saves as the hosts tried to polish the result. Chiedozie Ogbene won the penalty. Adam Idah held everything up. Jake O’Brien blocked seemingly everything to the point of exhaustion.

And it looked over from just the second minute as Dániel Lukács turned in a corner from right in front of the home fans.

Ireland had to grow into it, with the first signs of life coming from movement by Liam Scales on the left flank as he tried to create something with an overlapping Parrott.

The Boys in Green eventually went long, which led to a run into the area by Ogbene. The winger went down and a VAR check resulted in a penalty, to be put away in front of the travelling fans for the equaliser in the 15th minute.

Hungary blinked, took a second, and created a chance for Roland Sallai that was stopped at point-blank range by Kelleher.

It felt huge, and then came a moment of pure magic from Barnabás Varga as the striker was able to chest the ball down and score with a half volley in the 37th minute.

Parrott did offer some sort of reply in the face of this before the break, only to see his effort easily stopped by Denes Dibusz.

Hallgrímsson went to the bench at half-time and replaced O’Brien with Ryan Manning as Ireland stayed in the trusted 3-4-2-1 formation.

Idah was the next player brought on, in place of Ogbene, with the forward tasked with operating as a centre forward behind Parrott.

Another striker was introduced on the hour mark, with Johnny Kenny taking the place of Jayson Molumby.

Hungary held firm and managed to break in the face of the all-out attack, and at one stage Kelleher was forced into a stretched save to deny Sallai at the near post.

Parrott’s next moment came from seemingly nowhere in the 80th minute with a dinked finish off a Finn Azaz pass.

Hungary held firm in response, despite Dibusz being called into action to get in the way of one scrambling effort.

And then came Parrott.

Then came the poacher’s like finish after Kelleher launched the ball into the area in the sixth minute of time added on.

History was made.

Ireland had booked their place in the World Cup play-offs against all odds.

HUNGARY: Denes Dibusz; Loic Nego, Willi Orban, Attila Szalai, Milos Kerkez; Dominik Szoboszlai, Andras Schafer, Alex Toth; Daniel Lukacs, Roland Sallai, Barnabás Varga.

Subs: Callum Styles for Schafer (64); Bence Otvos for Lukács (64), Bendeguz Bolla for Toth (76), Damir Redzic for Sallai (90), Attila Mocsi for Nego (90).

IRELAND: Caoimhín Kelleher; Seamus Coleman, Jake O’Brien, Nathan Collins, Dara O’Shea, Liam Scales; Josh Cullen, Jayson Molumby; Chiedozie Ogbene, Finn Azaz; Troy Parrott.

Subs: Ryan Manning for O’Brien (h-t), Adam Idah for Ogbene (53), Festy Ebosele for Coleman (60), Johnny Kenny for Molumby (60), Jack Talyor for Cullen (80). 

Referee: Espen Eskas (Norway).