\n<\/p>\n
Asked whether he would mark the goal that sparked the Republic of Ireland into fits of joyous celebration with a new tattoo, Troy Parrott replied: “No, I think when we get to the World Cup that’s when I’ll get one!”<\/b><\/p>\n
It is ironic that Parrott has a penchant for tattoos – his injury time winner against Hungary on Sunday is a moment now permanently inked in the annals of Irish football.<\/p>\n
Ray Houghton’s goal against Italy at World Cup 1994, Robbie Brady’s winner – also against the Azzuri – at Euro 2016 and now Parrott in Budapest in November 2025.<\/p>\n
The stuff of legend.<\/p>\n
And less than 24 hours after that glorious night, Parrott is speaking exclusively to BBC Sport to somehow articulate the goal that will change his life forever.<\/p>\n
“How many times I have watched it back? Probably about 500 times – every time I go on to my phone, it’s there,” Parrott explained.<\/p>\n
“Even last night when I got to bed, I couldn’t sleep imagining it over and over and over again.<\/p>\n
“In general, I’m not really an emotional person, it’s the first time I’ve cried in years. Look I can sit here and try to describe it, but it is the first time I’ve felt something like that.<\/p>\n
“I’ve scored goals before but none as meaningful as my last one against Hungary. As a country we’ve had a lot of disappointing results and haven’t given the fans a lot to cheer about, so this was tears of joy.”<\/p>\n
What unravelled in the Hungarian capital on Sunday night was the culmination of an unforgettable week for Parrott and the Republic of Ireland.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old’s double in a 2-0 triumph against Portugal on Thursday night gave Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side a fighting chance of qualifying for the World Cup through March’s play-offs.<\/p>\n
But to then score a hat-trick against the Hungarians is something Parrott cannot quite fathom.<\/p>\n
“I think what happened against Portugal and then last night means this has to be written in some way,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We are all here for a reason, we all work very hard to be where we are.<\/p>\n
“But you can lie in bed and imagine how you want scenarios to go and the last week I’ve had is something you cannot even imagine.<\/p>\n
“For all this to happen so perfectly at that time of the game, it must be written. Everything aligned perfectly. It’s a bit of good karma for us because as a team and a country we have had a lot of bad karma.”<\/p>\n
As you can imagine, Parrott has been the toast of Dublin for the past 24 hours.<\/p>\n
Social media has been awash with clips of frenzied scenes of celebration back in Parrott’s homeland.<\/p>\n
Dublin Airport even renamed itself the Troy Parrott Airport on its official X account.<\/p>\n
“Yes, I saw the Dublin Airport thing – I’m loving all the stuff,” said the AZ Alkmaar forward.<\/p>\n
“It’s crazy. I might be biased but the Irish support our own better than anyone. It’s really a special thing. Beautiful.<\/p>\n
“Just to see how happy it has made everyone – I was out today and fans are thanking me.<\/p>\n
“I love where I come from, I love to be Irish. It’s something I will have for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n
“People are saying this is the best night they have ever had in their life, so to be able to contribute to that is something I will never forget.<\/p>\n
“I know I’m not going to change, what goes on around me might but even to me I don’t think I’ve had enough time for it to sink in. It’s beautiful.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Asked whether he would mark the goal that sparked the Republic of Ireland into fits of joyous celebration with a new tattoo, Troy Parrott replied: “No, I think when we get to the World Cup that’s when I’ll get one!” It is ironic that Parrott has a penchant for tattoos – his injury time winner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}