The Fianna Fáil TD was on the ball with his alarmingly accurate prediction

14:48, 20 Nov 2025Updated 14:49, 20 Nov 2025

Ireland’s Troy Parrott scored his third goal of the game (Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne)

It’s been a memorable week for Irish football as pubs and living rooms across the country erupted on Sunday when Troy Parrott found the back of the net in the dying minutes to keep our World Cup dreams alive.

It was a captivating game of football with all the drama you could want, with Ireland conceding early on only to equalise minutes later. However, another goal late in the first half saw Hungary heading into the dressing room with the advantage, with the Boys in Green facing a tough battle to secure the crucial win.

It all came down to some brilliant teamplay and the sheer determination of Troy Parrott, who scored two goals in the last twenty minutes to book Ireland a spot in the World Cup playoffs. There was an air of optimism heading into the game after a 2-0 win over Portugal earlier in the week, and ahead of the game, Cork TD managed to make an eerie prediction.

West Cork’s Christopher O’Sullivan was opening a new astro turf pitch at Drinagh Rangers training ground when he asked the young players who they thought would win Sunday’s game.

After receiving a few scattered shouts of “Ireland”, the Fianna Fáil TD said: “We’re going to win, aren’t we? Troy Parrott is going to get a hat-trick,” which was met with a more enthusiastic round of applause. You can watch a video showing the prediction below.

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Deputy O’Sullivan shared the video on social media, commenting: “Evidence that I predicted the Troy Parrott hat-trick and that Ireland would beat Hungary. The young Drinagh Rangers FC players were in full agreement with my prediction last Saturday at the opening of their new, state-of-the-art astro pitch.

“I will be predicting this week’s lotto numbers as well as our playoff fortunes later in the week. Watch this space,” he joked.

With our World Cup dreams kept alive by Parrott’s thrilling hat-trick, Ireland today found out who our opponents will be in the play-offs. A draw held by FIFA this afternoon determined that Ireland would play the Czech Republic in the play-off semi-final, with the winners set to face the victors of Denmark vs North Macedonia.