{"id":577239,"date":"2025-11-18T00:38:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T00:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/577239\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T00:38:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T00:38:23","slug":"what-ray-houghton-said-about-celtics-liam-scales-live-from-the-stadium-after-irelands-win-v-hungary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/577239\/","title":{"rendered":"What Ray Houghton said about Celtic’s Liam Scales live from the stadium after Ireland’s win v Hungary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Liam Scales is having quite the season so far. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Nothing much will top what the Celtic<\/a> defender experienced in Budapest on Sunday, as the Republic of Ireland kept their World Cup hopes alive in the most dramatic of fashions. <\/p>\n

Scales supplied the headed assist<\/a> for Troy Parrott\u2019s 96th-minute winner, as Ireland beat Hungary 3-2<\/a> at the Pusk\u00e1s Ar\u00e9na.<\/p>\n

One man who was inside the stadium to witness that whirlwind game was Ireland legend Ray Houghton, and he gave Scales<\/a> his flowers. <\/p>\n

\"LiamPhoto by Robert Szaniszlo\/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesRay Houghton on Liam Scales\u2019 role in Ireland\u2019s seismic win over Hungary <\/p>\n

Parrott is undoubtedly getting the headlines because of his hat-trick, as well as his brace for Ireland\u2019s win over 10-man Portugal<\/a> last Thursday in Dublin. <\/p>\n

But speaking to RTE Sport, live from Budapest, Houghton wanted to highlight the role Scales played, and how it wouldn\u2019t have been possible without the Celtic man. <\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t see Ireland getting the winner,\u201d admitted Houghton. \u201cParticularly after Kenny had that opportunity, which I thought he did everything right. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great strike. He was in the right position. He has hit it well, but the keeper has spread himself and made an unbelievable save.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, what a header from Liam Scales. You talk about Troy\u2019s finish. But if Liam doesn\u2019t get a touch on it. It doesn\u2019t matter where Troy runs; he isn\u2019t going to get the opportunity. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, the delivery from Caoimhin, the flick on from Liam, and then Troy being in the right position to get his studs on it and get it beyond the goalkeeper. Then just pure euphoria.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2018Two of the greatest flicked headers in Irish history\u2019<\/p>\n

Ireland will now go through a two-legged play-off next year, in their bid to reach the 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a>, which will be held in America, Canada and Mexico. <\/p>\n

If they reach football\u2019s greatest and biggest ever stage, then this win over Hungary will become even more historical and generational. <\/p>\n

But Balls.ie\u2019s social media account is already there because they are regarding Scales\u2019 flicked header, as \u2018the two greatest flicked headers in Irish history.\u2019<\/p>\n

They compared it to Niall Quinn\u2019s assist to Robbie Keane, from the last time Ireland were at a World Cup in 2002, and the stoppage-time equaliser against Germany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liam Scales is having quite the season so far. Nothing much will top what the Celtic defender experienced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[94,39696,182899,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-577239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-liam-scales","10":"tag-ray-houghton","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115567914505230824","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}