Normal service resumed on the Real Betis Balompié social media channels last Thursday.
For a month, they had been posting incessantly on Troy Parrott, their analytics and commercial people clearly telling them that there’s unprecedented interest coming from over there in Ireland.
Production was abruptly halted on this stream of output last week when word reached Seville that an extremely angry civil war was raging among the Irish fanbase – online at least – in the lead-up to the first Israel game.
Their post informing their followers that Troy had scored against Israel in the 3-0 victory in Debrecen was delivered in the dry tone of a press release, shorn of the usual giddy, internet meme-speak.
But they were back to their old form today, posting pictures of Parrott celebrating with the caption ‘Cúchulainn’ – not a football man of any desrciption – and comparing him to Brazilian Ronaldo.
Parrott had just scored one of the most dazzling individual goals anyone can recall at Lansdowne Road.
Picking up the ball just inside the opposition half after an Adam Idah flick-on, he initially gestured frustratedly at the absence of any support in attack.
Resigned to the fact that no help was arriving, he decided to make the best of things. That he did.
He dangled the ball in front of Austria’s defender Philip Lienhart, teasing the possibility of interception before nudging the ball between his legs.
With the crowd crying for him to shoot on the edge of the box, he instead coolly dragged the ball back inside David Affengruber and then slid it between goalkeeper Florian Wiegele’s legs.
Troy Parrott slides home the opener against Austria
All that was missing was Jimmy Magee’s ‘different class’ commentary which has surely been dubbed over the goal by the time of publication.
It was obviously the most memorable centre-piece of Parrott’s display, though it was far from his only great moment on a night when his every touch and shimmy was marked by class and composure.
As Ralf Rangnick – who seemed satisfied with the 2-2 draw – noted, Parrott “was involved in any of the offensive situations that Ireland created.”
On 25 minutes, he dummied a pass inside for Idah and spun away down the left flank for the pass. That move might have resulted in a goal but Idah had the ball taken off his toe by the retreating Affengruber when he was found in the box.
On the 65th minute, not long before he was taken off, he won a tussle for possession against Bayern Munich’s Konrad Laimer who had come barging into his back, and then, when Laimer pursued him aggressively, managed to shimmy inside the midfielder with a drag-back. With the ref offering him an advantage, he curled a through ball for the run of Jack Moylan, which was only scuppered by Xaver Schlager.
It feels like a long time since Parrott was struggling for goals at Millwall and Preston North End.
By the summer and autumn of 2023, he was widely dismissed as yet another forward with a great future behind him.
Many were inclined to recall with embarrassment the days when his goal-scoring exploits with the Tottenham Hotspur Under-23s were being breathlessly reported.
He was shuffling from one unglamorous and unsuccessful loan spell to another and seemed in danger of disappearing from view altogether.
By then, a desperate fanbase had switched their attention to Ireland’s new attacking messiah, Evan Ferguson.
Parrott had ceased to figure much in the minds of many supporters. The next we heard from him, he was on loan at Excelsior in Rotterdam.
The first flickers of a revival came late in the 2023-24 season, when he went on a remarkable goalscoring spree which wasn’t, alas, sufficient to keep the yo-yo club in the Eredivisie.
But it did earn him a move to established top flight outfit AZ Alkmaar. His career was an upward trajectory again. It has remained so ever since.
The extent of his rejuvenation in the Dutch top flight became fully apparent to Ireland fans in the unforgettable month of November 2025.
He’s now scored nine goals in his last six competitive games for Ireland, none of which were against minnows.
After a bumpy transition to senior football, all the promise of his youth career is being realised. Alongside the gushing from Ireland and Real Betis, much of the commentary on him is coming from regretful Spurs fans, lamenting the fact that they jettisoned him so soon.
Ireland’s attack suddenly looks to be well-stocked with options, for the first time since the heyday of Robbie Keane and Damien Duff.
Parrott has had a pacy foil in the shape of Idah for the last two games, while Moylan has made a stellar start to his international career, playing in a slightly withdrawn role, just off the strikers on the right-hand side.
The uneven trajectory of Parrott’s career should serve as an inspiration to Ferguson, who has endured an injury-ravaged couple of years. The Brighton striker has a decent strike-rate for Ireland and did, it is often forgotten, score three times in four games in the last World Cup campaign.
His five goals at Roma marked a better return than that managed at Lazio by Vedat Muqiri, the Kosovo striker who wowed everyone with his aerial power in Ireland’s loss in Pristina last week. Ferguson’s recovery from injury will hopefully provide the side with another dimension in attack.
Parrott wasn’t available to speak to the media and collect his Man of the Match award, with the squad still avoiding all interviews until this gruelling window has concluded.
Parrott celebrates with a love heart symbol after scoring against Israel
The already very slim prospect that the team might boycott the second Israel match is almost certainly dead in the water after Thursday night’s fairly low-key protest.
One protester did manage to make a bolt for the pitch but he was bottled up early by the security team’s blitz defence. The man in question did show some Mayo Mick style tenacity to unfurl his Palestinian flag before he was horsed down the tunnel.
The rather unique circumstances presented by this window has left the Ireland players with a draining travel schedule.
Parrott and co now head for the salubrious surrounds of Backa Topola for their ‘home’ game against Israel, a town which was described on the Indo Sport podcast as “the Longford of Serbia”, which presumably means there must be a Center Parcs nearby.
Serbia’s hidden heartlands provide the strange backdrop to the latest Ireland-Israel confrontation, with the latter vowing revenge after their humiliation last Sunday.
Parrott did cut a tired figure on his withdrawal from the game last night, following the exertions of the last week and a half.
But his form and confidence levels are such that he should be able to rouse it again for the second installment of this poisonous grudge match.