Manchester United icon Roy Keane has applauded the Republic of Ireland after they kept their World Cup 2026 qualification dreams alive by pulling off a dramatic comeback win.
Ireland were a goal behind twice in their crucial Group F match against Hungary at Budapest’s Puskas Arena but Troy Parrott scored with ten minutes remaining and again with the last kick of the match.
Roy Keane congratulates Ireland on their ‘amazing’ comeback victory
Ireland will discover their play-off opponents in Thursday’s draw and Keane was beaming when the ITV Football studio bounced onto the air for Sunday’s coverage of England’s last qualifying match against Albania.
With presenter Mark Pougatch celebrating the Irish win at the top of the show and former England international Ian Wright enjoying Keane’s enthusiasm, the ex-Man United midfielder didn’t hold back.
“Fantastic. Amazing. Fantastic,” said Keane.
“When you think of the way they started the campaign, you know, with a draw and a defeat, but they've recovered brilliantly and to win today, obviously on the back of the Portugal result, fantastic.
“[It's a] great boost for the country and for the team. The manager was heavily criticised but they've bounced back, got some momentum now and Parrott got a hat-trick, there was always talk about Parrott over the last few years but he's stepped up in the last few days and [it's] a great achievement.
“Fingers crossed now of course for the play-offs.”
With England already qualified, Northern Ireland and Wales in the play-offs, and Scotland still in the automatic qualification mix, Pougatch tried to tease Keane into widening his praise.
“I'm not really worried about the other teams at the moment but for Ireland to get back in the mix and have a chance – amazing,” smiled the pundit.
Cork-born Keane, who is ranked at no.28 FourFourTwo's list of the best footballers of the 90s, played 67 times for the Republic of Ireland between 1991 and 2005, either side of an infamous diatribe against then-manager Mick McCarthy and subsequent departure from the Ireland camp in Saipan at the 2002 World Cup.
The World Cup qualification play-offs will be played between 16 teams in all, with four pairs of semi-finals feeding into four finals for four spots at the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico next summer.
Led by former Iceland and Jamaica manager Heimir Hallgrimsson, Ireland needed to win in Budapest to knock Hungary out of World Cup contention.
Their hopes remain of a first qualification since that competition in Japan and South Korea in 2002, when they reached the second round in their third World Cup finals appearance.
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