STEPHEN KENNY HAILED the persistence of his players as Troy Parrott’s audacious 96th-minute strike broke Lithuania’s resistance and secured a 1-0 Irish victory at the Aviv Stadium tonight.
“To be fair to the players the ability to get late goals is a very important quality in a team”, said Kenny.
“We scored late goals against Azerbaijan, Serbia, three against Luxembourg, against Belgium and again today. That characteristic is important, and you can’t underestimate persistence, it’s a very important quality. It speaks about the humility of the group.”
It is baffling that some fans are still streaming out of the Aviva Stadium before the final whistle: ten of the 24 goals Ireland have scored under Stephen Kenny have come in the 84th minute or later.
Parrott’s goal came after four goals were disallowed for offside, and while all were the right calls, Kenny said his side did well not to be consumed by the frustration of it all.
“I’ve never been involved in a game with four goals disallowed. Some of them are late flags, you celebrate and then flag goes up. Frustration can get better of you but we didn’t let that happen. We left it very late but it was a brilliant goal by Troy Parrott.”
And what a goal it was. Kenny admitted Parrott thought he deserved to start, but praised him for “channelling his disappointment in the right way.” Kenny also pointed to his versatility – Parrott played in all three positions across the front three in his half-hour on the pitch – and then accentuated that Parrott’s prior international goals came against Andorra, his quick-fire double rescuing Ireland from abject humiliation when they trailed 1-0.
“He has a capacity to score in games going against us. He’s still learning and he could end up in the play offs at Wembley this year, so they are all good experiences. We’ll see how he gets on. He is a terrific young person, and he’s very popular person in the dressing room. He’s a good team-mate and he showed that tonight.”
Parrott’s late strike was crucial because Ireland failed to make a breakthrough in the first-half against a very defensive opponent, and Kenny admitted that the performance was too ponderous at times.
“We needed to inject greater tempo into our build up, and [improve] the quality of crossing in the final third and our reluctance to cross, sometimes.
“We needed to pass into the feet of our front three quicker. But it’s easier on paper: they are a big team and they were dealing with crosses well. If Chieo’s goal goes in [in the eighth minute], like Qatar, they have to open up.
“Some things worked, some things didn’t work, we learned a good deal from the game. There are good points and points to improve on.”