World Cup Qualifiers
GROUP F
IRELAND 2
HUNGARY 2
ADAM Idah's injury time leveller snatched Ireland a late draw in their opening World Cup qualifying game with Hungary at the Aviva on Saturday night.
The boys in green found themselves staring down the barrel of another disappointing campaign after Hungary struck the opener with less than two minutes on the clock.
Barnabás Varga struck a volleyed effort beyond Kelleher at the near post after Matt Doherty's lapse in concentration allowed the forward to be played onside.
Roland Sallai doubled Hungary's lead on the 16th minute of play as the frustrations of the Irish support echoed around the Aviva fearing yet another disappointing campaign on its opening night.
Evan Ferguson scored his sixth International goal for Ireland against Hungary
Ireland Manager Heimir Hallgrimsson touched on his side's sloppy defending in the opening stages but how credit must be given for the comeback in a game of this magnitude.
"I felt like we deserved all the three points," said Hallgrimsson, speaking at the post match press conference.
"But given that we conceded the two goals in the beginning and especially the manner they came, it was a sloppy, sloppy 2-0 loss and in such an important game you don't want that.
"We conceded two in the early stages, so unhappy with the first half. But listen, it's not easy to come back from a 2-0 down at this level.
"So that's not easy and I give all the credit to the guys for the second half. The character they showed, the bravery and all the effort they put in. I give them a lot of credit for the second half," said the Irish boss.
We comeback from two goals down to pick up a point 👏 pic.twitter.com/xClqeCNjHR
— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) September 6, 2025
The home side did grow into the game after an early deficit with chances from Evan Ferguson after his effort stung the palms of Dibuz from the edge of the box.
Caoimhin Kelleher was no doubt on top form in the half as he made several saves to keep Hungary from increasing their lead and sending the boys in green for an Irish goodbye in the first half.
Hallgrimsson believed his side began to get a grip of the game as opportunities became more frequent as the half drew to a close.
"We felt the last 15 minutes in the first half, we started to get grip of the game. We started to move the ball better from side to side. We created some good opportunities and even chances," said Hallgrimsson.
"Evan (Ferguson) has an effort that is saved brilliantly and we carved out opportunities with both full-backs having dangerous crosses but we were unfortunate none were met with that finishing touch."
Ireland did get their first goal back just after the half when Evan Ferguson scrambled the ball over the line on the 49th minute when Ryan Manning's free-kick caused trouble with Nathan Collins heading the ball back into the danger zone where Roma's new star-man Ferguson was on hand to poke home.
The big flashpoint of the game came when Hungary's second goalscorer Roland Sallai saw red after his awful challenge on Dara O'Shea just moments after Ireland had found the net.
Irish fans stood in solidarity with Palestine joining the 'Show Israel the Red Card' fan campaign
From then on Ireland ramped up the pressure and flooded the box with cross after cross but to no avail as Hungary looked set to stand up to an Irish onslaught of attack.
Groans from the home support increased as hope diminished in the closing stages after the away side's attempts to stall play was met with the cautionary yellow for their time-wasting efforts.
It was deep into stoppage time when former Celtic striker Adam Idah popped up with the equaliser after he latched onto a Ryan Manning cross and headed home to send the Aviva Stadium into pandemonium.
Hallgrimsson gave credit to his side for their brave effort to overturn a two goal deficit which most sides would not have managed after the poor start.
“I give all the credit to the guys for the second half, the character they showed, the bravery and all the effort they put in. I give them a lot of credit for the second half.
"We felt that they deserved to show a different side of themselves in the second half. We had actually nothing to lose. We just said, we just go, we go gung-ho."
The Icelandic native now believes that Tuesday's trip to Armenia holds far more weight after Saturday night's result.
“Always if you don’t win, the recovery takes a little bit longer and we need to recover quickly. Now the game in Armenia has even more importance than before.
"We said before this campaign four points would be okay. Our goal was six points and we are obviously disappointed not to have three in our bag.”
