Dara O’Shea, Jack Taylor and Chieo Ogbene all won caps as the Republic of Ireland sensationally scored in the sixth minute of injury time having come from behind twice to beat Hungary 3-2 in Budapest in their final World Cup qualifier to secure a place in the play-offs, former Blues loanee Troy Parrott scoring a remarkable hat-trick.

Ireland with O’Shea and Ogbene in the XI and Taylor on the bench, got off to a slow start and conceded after only three minutes, Daniel Lukacs putting the Hungarians in front, but levelled from the penalty spot on the quarter-hour.

Ogbene chased a ball down the middle from O’Shea, who was winning his 41st full cap, and under pressure was kicked by Attila Szalai as he took the ball away from the defender.

Norwegian referee Espen Eskas initially gave nothing but took a second look after a VAR review and pointed to the spot. Parrott, these days with Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar, confidently found the net.

However, the Hungarians took the lead again eight minutes before the break when Barnabas Varga lashed a brilliant strike from just outside the area into the top corner.

Seven minutes after the restart, Ogbene chased a through ball and pulled up holding his hamstring. After brief treatment on the pitch, the forward, who is on loan at Sheffield United for the season, was replaced by Swansea’s Adam Idah having won his 30th full cap.

Ireland huffed and puffed but rarely looked like getting on terms for the second time until the 80th minute when Parrott lifted his fourth goal in two games over Hungarian keeper Denes Dibusz from Southampton forward Finn Azaz’s deftly lofted pass. Ahead of the restart, Taylor came on to win his 10th cap.

On 88, O’Shea’s low shot across the six-yard box from beyond the back post following a Ryan Manning free-kick from the left was cleared from in front of the line.

Ireland kept pushing but seemed destined to crash out until the dying seconds when a ball into the area was nodded down by Liam Scales and Parrott stabbed his third of the game and fifth goal in this week’s two games under Dibusz from the edge of the six-yard box to send the travelling fans wild.

The win means Ireland finish second in their group and go into the play-offs for a place in next summer’s finals, Portugal having cemented top spot via a 9-1 hammering of Armenia in Porto.

Sammie Szmodics missed out on a place in the squad having recently undergone knee surgery, while Kasey McAteer was omitted.

Photo: Reuters