New loan signing Noel Hunt reflected on his dramatic Town debut and said it was a script which couldn’t have been written. The 31-year-old, who joined the Blues from Leeds on Thursday, came off the bench in the 84th minute to score his first league goal in more than two years in the fifth minute of injury time to secure Town’s 1-0 victory at Charlton and move them up to second in the Championship table.
The Irishman’s previous goal came in the FA Cup for Reading in January 2013 but his last in the league was back in October 2012.
"You couldn't write it!” Hunt said. "It's been strange for me to go on loan because I've never been on loan before. The boys have been so good to me since I arrived though.
”I just thought I was going to come on, help us keep our shape and see out a draw. I was playing out on the right, but Didzy drifted over there to get the ball, it's given me a chance to come inside and thankfully the ball's just fallen for me.
"I knew it was in as soon as I hit it. We did a lot of shooting on Friday with TC, he works hard with the boys, so I have to give him credit.
"I'm just happy that I can repay the club a little bit because they've shown great faith in me by bringing me in. I'm probably the most grateful man in the world right now.
"This is a really great team to be involved with because everyone works for each other and there's a great team spirit. I'm just delighted to be here. It's a dream come true.”
He says Town came highly recommended by his brother Stephen, who joined the club this time last year.
"He just said it's the best bunch of boys he's played with for a long time. A good dressing room spirit goes a long way. He really sold it to me,” he continued.
”Stephen's been here for a while and I've always fancied coming to Ipswich. We played together at Reading a few years ago but I didn't think it would happen again.
"Everything happened so fast this week. I was travelling down, then I trained, then I'm coming on. I was nervous and I just wanted that first touch of the ball. Thankfully it was a good one.”
He added: "It's just been great to get back in that atmosphere of winning. Everyone is flying high, the craic is flying around.
"My brother's a funny character, he likes to bite when the banter comes his way, so it's been a fun week.”
Hunt Jnr and short-term signing Sean St Ledger are the latest members of a strong Irish contingent currently at Town. In addition to Stephen Hunt, David McGoldrick, Daryl Murphy and Conor Sammon are current Irish internationals, while Jay Tabb won U21 caps earlier in his career, skipper Luke Chambers qualifies via a grandparent but is yet to win caps and McCarthy, of course, is a former Ireland boss.
"We played a training game on Friday and I think it was Ireland versus the rest!" he said. "It's good. The English boys have been giving us a bit of craic.”
He admits that life was tough during his 17 months at Leeds: "I haven't played for a long time. You listen to a lot of nonsense that gets said about you and it can start to get to you.
"You have to be mentally strong. I just kept working as hard as I could behind the scenes.
"'Challenging' is one word to describe my last year or so. I've got great people around me though; my wife's been superb, my brother and my parents are always on the phone keeping me strong. You do have doubts about yourself at times, but you just have to keep on believing.”
Hunt says Town’s rise to second just a point behind leaders Derby is a tribute to the hard work of his new team-mates as was his goal.
"I can't take any credit for that,” he said. "The boys have grafted all season. We're in great form, but I only scored today because of the graft all the boys put in.
"Their defender has probably had a lapse in concentration because he's been tired out running after the boys all game. It was a real team effort.
"This league is all about graft and these boys really do it. It gets you places in this league - I know that only too well.
"A few years ago at Reading we didn't have the best team in the division, but we won the league on pure graft."
The Waterford-born frontman says he’s aiming to extend his stay with the Blues: "I'm here for a month, obviously I'd love to stay longer, absolutely love to, but that will be up to the higher powers.
"I've just got to concentrate on my football. I'll be working my backside off to get something in January.
"I'm just so grateful to the gaffer and TC for giving me the chance to come down. I'm just delighted to repay them a little bit. It's hard to take it all in at the moment. It was a dream come true.”