Into the sixth minute of the five minutes of added time, Caoimhín Kelleher on the ball in midfield, and everyone knows this will be the last attack. The Irish goalkeeper, who as usual has kept us in the game with great saves, lofts it beautifully into the area, the kind of ball that could cause trouble. And nobody has noticed yet, but Troy Parrott is already moving towards goal from the edge of the box.
With one last effort, Liam Scales leaps above Barnabás Varga and heads it down towards goal – into the space where Parrott’s run is taking him. The moment is so similar to Niall Quinn’s header for Robbie Keane in 2002 that everyone recognises it in real time.
Parrott stretches out his right leg like a ballet dancer, snarling with determination as Attila Mocsi drives a desperate elbow into his ribs, and connects with the ball at the furthest possible inch of his reach, prodding it with his studs, crucially sending it down, underneath the onrushing Dénes Dibusz, who was otherwise going to save.
The ball bounces into the net and the stadium – cliche dictates that here you would say the stadium explodes. It’s more like the stadium implodes. The stadium ceases to be. You can hear the Irish players’ howls and screams over the distant roar of the away fans way up in the top tier.
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