Friendly International: Republic of Ireland 2 Hungary 1
Victory, at last, for the Republic of Ireland against a decent international football side. The outpouring of emotion following Troy Parrott’s 92nd-minute winner was pure elation, pure relief.
And that’s just from John O’Shea and the Irish staff on the line.
With Hungary pressing for a winner, a misplaced pass broke kindly for Parrott. As he ate up 60 yards of turf, memories instantly returned to Hampden Park in September 2022.
That was the night Parrott had a glorious chance to put Ireland 2-1 up against the Scots. He missed and Ireland lost. This time, he shot low into the body of Hungarian reserve goalkeeper Dénes Dibusz. Somehow the ball rippled the net. Cue madness, and relief. Buckets of it.
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Suddenly, the manager can point to an upward curve from March friendlies against Belgium (0-0) and Switzerland (0-1).
Before Parrott struck late on, a goal for Adam Idah and the avoidance of defeat put a false sheen on the third game under O’Shea’s interim leadership.
In the 81st minute the long since removed south terrace area at Lansdowne Road mustered a chant of encouragement. Sammie Szmodics had won a corner. Hungary dealt with it easily before Dominik Szoboszlai took over again.
Hungary’s Liverpool superstar shifted slowly through the gears. A mini-Merseyside derby kept breaking out down Ireland’s right flank as Séamus Coleman and Szoboszlai exchanged pleasantries and stud marks.
Besides a four-minute goal glut, that had been the height of entertainment inside the Aviva Stadium; a summer evening of subplots and tributaries leading to a major tournament in Germany later this month.
Ireland are not going to Stuttgart this time around. Half of Hungary will be; that’s where they face the hosts and Scotland in what promises to be a sizzling two encounters in four days.
O’Shea went with the English-born midfield quartet of Josh Cullen, Will Smallbone, Szmodics and Finn Azaz. Technically competent Championship players, although Smallbone’s Southampton replace Cullen’s Burnley in next season’s Premier League, they fashioned a goal for their interim gaffer 216 minutes into the O’Shea era.
Idah continued his prolific form for Celtic by finishing Smallbone’s decent cross. But it was the way Azaz orchestrated the opportunity that drew a roar from the home fans The Hungarians were in fine voice down the Havelock Square end – they’re on the road again, half a million applied for tickets to their Euros group matches.
The lead lasted less than four minutes but it is worth savouring. Azaz took a pass from Szmodics, moving it quickly to Smallbone before taking it back and inviting Matt Doherty to zip one down the channel. Márton Dárdai gave Smallbone too much space and Willi Orbán lost Idah in the box, but no matter, Ireland led 1-0.
The equaliser was a soft goal. Szoboszlai is impossible to pin down as Hungary’s Italian coach Marco Rossi invites him to roam like Francesco Totti in his prime. The 23-year-old dropped deep for a short free-kick, launching a speculative ball into a clump of bodies. The ball took a spinning deflection off Azaz but that cannot explain how Orbán was gifted a flick to the back post where Shane Duffy had lost Adám Lang.
One-all and the Aviva crowd went back into hibernation.
The Hungarian goal should have come earlier than the 40th minute as Loic Négo and Milos Kerkez forced smart saves from Caoimhín Kelleher.
The second Kelleher intervention came after Nagy beat Cullen in the tackle and András Schäfer bumped off Smallbone. This freed Szoboszlai but the overlapping Kerkez was matched by the Cork man.
Ireland had chances in the first half. The best one came to Szmodics in transition but with Azaz to the left of him and Idah to the right, he got stuck in the middle with Négo taking the ball away.
Szoboszlai attempted to sprinkle some magic dust on the occasion but his missile from inside the Hungary half drifted wide. The Euros is a fitting playground for him.
Duffy, who looked ponderous and under constant pressure from Barnabás Varga, did not reappear for the second half. Nor did Doherty and a few thousand Irish fans among the 29,424 attendance.
It’s the apathy at recent internationals that resonates. The FAI need to appoint a more permanent manager sooner rather than later. Clearly, this interim policy is very bad for business.
One thing O’Shea cannot be accused of is doing nothing. The arrival of Liam Scales and Jake O’Brien, for his debut, allowed Coleman to switch from centre half to right wing back. Parrott, Callum O’Dowda and Michael Obafemi also arrived to little impact, until it really mattered.
Rossi confirmed the value of this game by replacing his goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi with Dibusz. It is 11 days until they meet Switzerland in Cologne.
Kelleher was forced into another, full stretch save from Roland Sallai’s left-foot strike, with Liverpool’s reserve goalie needed twice more from the resulting corner.
As the game threatened to be filed away as another forgettable friendly, Coleman kept raging against the dying of the light. The 35-year-old Evertonian and Szoboszlai both drew yellow cards from Luis Godinho following a frank exchange of views.
But it was Parrott who had the final say.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Kelleher (Liverpool); Doherty (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Coleman (Everton), Duffy (Norwich City), O’Shea (Burnley), Brady (Preston North End); Cullen (Burnley), Smallbone (Southampton); Azaz (Middlesbrough), Idah (Glasgow Celtic, on loan from Norwich City), Szmodics (Blackburn Rovers).
Subs: Scales (Glasgow Celtic) for Duffy, O’Brien (Lyon) for Doherty (both 46 mins), Parrott (Tottenham Hotspur) for Azaz, Callum O’Dowda (Cardiff City) for Brady (both 62), Obafemi (Burnley) for Idah (71), Knight (Bristol City) for Cullen (79)
HUNGARY: Gulácsi (RB Leipzig); Dárdai (Hertha Berlin), Orbán (RB Leipzig), Lang (Omonia Nicosia); Négo (Le Harve), Nagy (Spezia Calcio), Schäfer (Union Berlin), Kerkez (Bournemouth); Szoboszlai (Liverpool), Varga (Ferencvárosi TC), Sallai (SC Freiburg).
Subs: Dibusz (Ferencvárosi) for Gulácsi, Botka (Ferencvárosi) for Négo (both 46 mins), Kleinheisler (Hajduk Split) for Varga (61), Balogh (Parma) for Lang (73).
Referee: Luis Godinho (Portugal).
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