{"id":144407,"date":"2025-11-17T10:59:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T10:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/144407\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T10:59:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T10:59:07","slug":"ireland-and-parrotts-heroics-in-budapest-were-un-summable-up-able-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/144407\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland and Parrott\u2019s heroics in Budapest were un-summable-up-able \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe most astonishing quarter-hour in Irish football history<\/a>,\u201d says Ken Early of the closing stages of Sunday\u2019s game in Budapest, when the Republic of Ireland\u2019s astounding victory kept their World Cup qualifying hopes alive. \u201cThese are the moments you remember for the rest of your life<\/a>,\u201d said Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson of the Troy Parrott-inspired win, Gavin Cummiskey tasked with summing up a game that was, frankly, un-summable-up-able<\/a> – one that might well have Pope Leo XIV certifying it as a miracle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are zero prizes for guessing who got full marks in Gordon Manning\u2019s player ratings<\/a>, although we\u2019re dropping a bit of a hint here by quoting Parrott: \u201cThis is why we love football because things like this can happen<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his \u2018five things\u2019 we learnt from the campaign, Gordon picks out the sheer \u201cdesire and belief\u201d the players demonstrated in Budapest<\/a>, the upshot that the FAI won\u2019t, after all, have to go looking for yet another new manager. Hallgr\u00edmsson had, writes Denis Walsh, been \u201cpedalling towards the end of his contract with two flat tyres<\/a> and the chain off\u201d. Now? A new deal, surely?<\/p>\n

Next? The play-offs, the draw for which takes place next Thursday. David Gorman takes you through Ireland\u2019s possible opponents<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It was a mighty fine evening too on Saturday for our rugby lads, their 46-19 win over Australia \u201cexactly what was promised and hoped for\u201d<\/a>, as Gerry Thornley puts it in his match report. \u201cAs get-right games go, there wasn\u2019t a lot about this one that could have gone better<\/a>,\u201d writes Malachy Clerkin, Ireland finally playing \u201clike the team they believe they are\u201d<\/a>, says Johnny Watterson. <\/p>\n

Johnny handed out two nines in his player ratings<\/a> – hint: one of the recipients is rugby\u2019s hat-trick-hero version of Parrott. Mack Hansen, of course. His \u201creimagination as a fullback for Ireland was an unadulterated triumph<\/a>,\u201d writes John O\u2019Sullivan, who heard a chuffed Andy Farrell reveal that \u201cmy first thoughts were, \u2018you better play well in those two different coloured boots<\/a>\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

Paddy McCarthy was a bit on the happy side himself too, Gerry hearing from him after a game in which \u201che utterly vindicated the faith placed in him by Andy Farrell<\/a>\u201d. And in his \u2018five things\u2019 we learnt, John notes that the outhalf debate might not be settled just yet<\/a> – both Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley played well.<\/p>\n

In Gaelic games, it was another busy weekend on the club front, \u00c9ire \u00d3g<\/a> and Ballygunner\u2019s hurlers<\/a> setting up a Munster final meeting, while in Ulster, holders Slaughtneil<\/a> continue to successfully defend their crown. In football, Maigh Cuilinn are through to the Connacht fina<\/a>l, where they will meet St Brigid\u2019s<\/a>, Paul Keane rounding up the rest of the action<\/a>. <\/p>\n

And in golf, Philip Reid reports on Rory McIlroy sealing a seventh Race to Dubai title<\/a>, his fourth in succession, despite losing to Matt Fitzpatrick in the playoff at the DP World Tour Championship. That triumph moved him one ahead of the late Seve Ballesteros, McIlroy having an emotional meeting with the Spaniard\u2019s widow Carmen<\/a> ahead of his final round. <\/p>\n

TV Watch: Aside from TG4\u2019s highlights from the GAA club weekend (8pm), there\u2019s not much to recommend by way of telly viewing today – the World Cup qualifier between Northern Ireland and Luxembourg (Virgin Media Two and BBC2, 7.45pm) is effectively a dead rubber – Norn Iron have already booked their slot in the play-offs. The best option would be to replay Ireland\u2019s winner in Budapest on a loop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe most astonishing quarter-hour in Irish football history,\u201d says Ken Early of the closing stages of Sunday\u2019s game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,46616],"class_list":["post-144407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-sports-briefing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}