Football Daily | Troy of the Rovers: Parrott trick sends Republic of Ireland into delirium

HUNGARY FOR MORE As greatest living Irishmen go, Troy Parrott just jumped the queue on Bono, Brendan Gleeson, David Clifford, Sean Kelly, Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Paul O’Connell, Rory McIlroy, Roy Keane and Graham Norton. By Sunday evening, Dublin International Airport had been renamed after the hat-trick hero of the Republic of Ireland’s last-seconds heist in Hungary. Why? To quote RTE commentator Darragh Maloney in Budapest: “One last throw of the dice, it’s all on this from Caoimhin Kelleher, [Liam] Scales is up after it, Scales wins the header, it’s a chance … there’s the goal! That’s Troy Parrott … that’s unbelievable.” Precis: The Republic of Ireland have reached the Geopolitics World Cup playoffs and nobody Irish will again struggle to recognise Parrott. Within such unspeakable excitement, to follow his two goals in Dublin to down mighty Portugal, Parrott hit the levels of Brian Boru and Maud Gonne, freeing his country from the shackles of decades of football mediocrity. “Ah, what a night,” as he said so demurely in the aftermath. Overnight sensation, instant hero? Anyone paying attention to Ireland’s travails may recall the brief hype surrounding a young striker on the fringes of Tottenham squad a few years back. Similar advance notices greeted Aaron Connolly, now at Leyton Orient, and more recently Evan Ferguson, which says something about Ireland’s hopes for a hero.Among the casualties of the Premier League being The Best League in the World have been those across the water. Where once, just about every top-flight team included an Irishman, the Championship and below is where they are now found, squeezed out by globalisation and Brexit regulations. Some have travelled further afield in search of football fortunes, and following loan spells at Millwall, Ipswich, MK Dons and Preston, Parrott took flight at Excelsior Rotterdam in the lower reaches of the Eredivisie during the 2023-24 season. The Dubliner scored 17 goals that season but could not prevent his team’s relegation. A permanent move to AZ Alkmaar in the summer of 2024 further added to Parrott’s plumage. This season he has scored seven goals in six league matches, an overall AZ total of 33 goals in 61 matches. An injury to Roma’s Ferguson meant Heimir Hallgrímsson turned to Parrott, and against Portugal and then in the Ferenc Puskas Stadium, he showed the stillness and speed of the best finishers. Witness the deep breath and the zen-like calm as the striker first scored a penalty, struck home with the coolness of vintage Stephen Hendry on a century break despite being barracked by the Hungary fans. Not bad for someone who has missed twice from the spot for AZ this season. His second goal, a dinked finish that flopped into the net like a McIlroy approach shot, was a thing of beauty. Then came the poacher’s finish that sent Big Vik Orbán and co into despair and Ireland into delirium. Having taken down CR7, Parrott had again tweaked the nose of one of the planet’s most preening alpha males. An amazing week for any footballer, let alone a player with a national team missing from the World Cup finals since 2002. Though not everyone was surprised. Enter Troy’s grandmother Josie: “I knew he was gonna do it. I just had a feeling. He deserves everything he got. I’m so proud of him. He knows I love him to bits.” So too, now, does anyone with any Irish in them. QUOTE OF THE DAY “During all of the penalties, the guys of Congo were doing some voodoo. Every time, every time, every time. This is why [I was] a little nervous of him. Something like that … [shakes his fist in the air]. I don’t know if it’s water or something like that” – Nigeria manager Éric Chelle has obviously taken his side’s penalty-shootout defeat to DR Congo well, with the 48-year-old getting creative in attempting to explain the Super Eagles’ damaging elimination from GWC qualifying. FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS Re professionals playing with rank amateurs (Football Daily letters passim), I used to play seven-a-side on the Forest Rec in Nottingham. All the lads were in their mid thirties or thereabouts. One nice summer in the 90s we were having a kick about when this lad approached us and asked if he could join in. We never usually turned anyone away and this was no exception. He was head and shoulders better than any of us, great pace, fantastic ball control, skills we could only dream about. We would pass the ball to him and he would return pass to us, only about 10 yards in front expecting us to have made the run. Obviously after the session finished we wanted to know where this wonderkid had come from. He said he was staying with someone round the corner and fancied a game. It turned out he had just been released by Torquay United whose then manager was a certain Neil Warnock and was looking for another club. Apparently the player hadn’t returned a pair of shorts after a training session and Warnock had taken a dislike to him and consequently let him go at the end of the season. We asked him to come down again if he fancied it and he said he would, but didn’t. We never found out his name or if indeed he went on any further in his career” – Vaughan Wilkinson. Re the letter about playing an unregistered player in a game, our village team (very much towards the bottom of the non-league pyramid) often struggled for players and regularly relied on ‘friend of friends’ to fill out the teamsheet. Although the practice was tacitly acknowledged by referees who were always very patient when booking a player for him to establish what ‘his’ name was, actual registered players sometimes found themselves banned or owing fines for people using their name. To solve these problems, we simply registered two fictitious players: Andy & Aidy Ringer. Nobody ever had a problem remembering they (for the purposes of the match) were called A Ringer and the integrity of the league was duly restored!” – Simon Richardson. Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Vaughan Wilkinson. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here. RECOMMENDED LISTENING Wrap your ears around the latest episode of Football Weekly, with Max Rushden joined by Jonathan Wilson, Barney Ronay and John Brewin to discuss the international action and a decisive week for both Scotland and Wales. • This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. 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