Troy Parrott stabs home 96th-minute winner to complete hat-trick for Ireland in Budapest

Troy Parrott stabbed the ball home in the 96th minute against Hungary in Budapest.

Caoimhín Kelleher's long ball was headed down by Liam Scales and Parrott finished past goalkeeper Denes Dibusz, beating defender Attila Mocis. The strike completed his hat-trick in a 3-2 win that sent Ireland into the World Cup play-offs.

Hungary had gone 1-0 up inside three minutes. Parrott converted the penalty to make it 1-1 after Chiedozie Ogbene was clipped in the area, though Ogbene suffered a hamstring injury soon after. Hungary led again before Parrott's touch-and-lift equaliser in the 80th minute.

Three days earlier at the Aviva Stadium he had scored both goals in a 2-0 victory over Portugal, where Cristiano Ronaldo received a red card. Five goals in four days did the job. It marked the first away hat-trick by a Republic of Ireland men's player and the first Irish competitive hat-trick since Robbie Keane in 2014.

As Irish fans sang and his teammates already watched clips of the goal, Parrott broke down during his post-match interview with RTÉ's Tony O'Donoghue. “This is the first time I’ve cried in years as well… I really can’t believe it.”

RTÉ Sport's original clip of the winner drew over 1.5 million views on X while the slow-motion version reached almost 250,000, with Darragh Maloney's commentary coming in as the ball hit the net. Fans packed into a Dublin Airport pub erupted when it went in, the moment captured by Zuzana Botikova. One comment on the RTÉ footage read: “Close to tears all over again, the slow motion shows how ridiculous that touch for the finish is.”

Another said: “Guys that have been there given everything, and gone through all the pain, to finally have a moment to celebrate and savor with this Irish team 🍀”