There are no words. Only joy. Unbridled joy. The Miracle of Budapest, where were you when Troy Parrott completed his three glorious mysteries?
There have been bigger days in Irish football than this, but there might never have been a better three days – beating Portugal 2-0 at home before a 3-2 injury-time away win in Hungary to remain alive for a place at next summer’s World Cup. Magic.
Parrott, who scored all five goals in the two games, will almost certainly never have three days like this again. Perhaps he should do the lotto, but you can’t buy what he has just lived – a hat-trick in the Puskás Arena, with the third goal coming in the sixth minute of injury-time. Ferenc himself would doff his cap.
These things simply don’t happen to us. Ireland don’t win games like this. Clawing the unlikely scenario from the dying embers of must-win matches is not really our thing. We are much more comfortable as the supporting cast, an obliging punchbag for others. We don’t nick era-defining matches at the death; that role belongs to somebody else. We’ll be off playing friendlies against Oman next year and looking for a new manager, thank you very much.
RM Block
But not this time.
Ireland needed to beat Hungary to have any chance of qualifying for the World Cup. Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side, who had not led once throughout, were level at 2-2 as the game entered the sixth minute of five extra announced.
And then Cork’s Caoimhín Kelleher launches a long, speculative ball downfield. Last-chance saloon. Wicklow’s Liam Scales nods it down to Dublin’s Troy Parrott. With a poacher’s instinct, Parrott anticipates where the ball will land. It’s 12 seconds after the allotted time. He sticks his right foot out. Connection. Near post. Goal. Pandemonium.
[ TV View: Pope Leo will surely be declaring this the Miracle at BudapestOpens in new window ]
Hungary’s best player, Dominik Szoboszlai, falls to the grass in a state of bewilderment in Budapest. In that moment, it was understandably difficult for any Irish person watching the game – beyond using profanities – to verbalise what happened. And St Parrott was no different.
“I’m really, really emotional right now,” he said afterwards, pausing to try regain his composure. “They’re tears of joy. What a night.
“My family is here, it’s the first time I’ve cried in years as well. I really can’t believe it. Everyone is crying.”
When teammate Dara O’Shea spoke to RTÉ moments later, the Ireland defender namechecked the hero of the night.
“I thought you couldn’t really beat the result on Thursday, but to come to a really tough place, hostile for us, everything was against us in a way, but we stuck together and, yeah, Troy Parrott. I don’t need to say any more. Troy Parrott.”
Parrott was later pictured taking a selfie with the match ball he was awarded for scoring a hat-trick.
“It is really a fairytale,” he said in relation to scoring an injury-time winner. “You can’t even dream about something like that. Honestly, I have no words to describe my emotions right now.”
Because there are no words. Only joy. Unbridled joy.
Speechless in Budapest. Ireland, the talk of the town again.
