TROY PARROTT RACED through on goal in the 92nd minute and could have squared it for Sammie Szmodics to his left for a simple tap in.
He was never going to pass.
“No, I saw the gap, and especially at the minute I’m full of confidence so I never thought I’d miss going through,” he said, clutching his match-worn jersey as he prepared to meet his excited family after scoring the winner against a Hungary side heading for Euro 2024.
“I’d say I got a little bit lucky.”
When it’s in, it’s in.
He netted two hat-tricks for Excelsior Rotterdam in their relegation/promotion series, as well as a single, so this goal made it eight in his last four games for club and country.
Parrott only arrived into camp yesterday, took part in a recovery session and then confirmed he was ready to be part of the squad.
The Dubliner missed the last international window in March due to injury so this was his first experience of life under interim manager John O’Shea, even if he worked closely with him while part of Stephen Kenny’s coaching set-up.
“I loved working with him. To see him here is nice. I like working with him so we’ll see what happens.
“He told me ‘you’re in form, go and see what you can do’. I felt good coming on, the way I’m feeling recently, if I can get a chance I can score. It was good, it was nice.”
Parrott has thrived while on loan from Tottenham in the Eredivisie and admits initial reservations about the move are firmly behind him.
“Before I went over, I was questioning it a little bit because it’s a foreign country with a different language. I didn’t know what to expect, but as soon as I went there everyone speaks English and it’s not too different. The football is different, but the lifestyle and the people are not too different.
“Before this season goals have been difficult to come by for me,” Parrott added.
“It’s one area that I struggled in a little bit so to see all the hard work paying off is nice.
“I’ve loved it, I think it has helped me a lot. It’s given me a chance to try a different style of football and I feel like it’s suited me and I’ve done well.
“I feel like it’s more technical over there, you have to use your brain a lot more rather than just being physical.”
Parrott has been in almost daily contact with Andy Scoulding, who monitors Spurs’ loan players, and while he will assess his club future after a holiday later this month he insists his full focus is helping Ireland build on this positive result when they face Portugal away next Tuesday.
“I hope so. I feel like we’ve got a really good team and some really good players as well.
“Obviously results have been difficult to come by for us, but if you really look at the games we have played, it’s very rare that we lose 2-0, 3-0, 4-0. We’re always in games, results just haven’t swung our way.
“Hopefully now we can push on and start getting some wins.”
