By the time Troy Parrott came out to meet the media, it was almost an hour after the young striker had sealed a 1-0 victory for his country, a last-gasp winner in the 97th minute.
The MK Dons forward was perhaps unlucky to miss out on starting the friendly international against Lithunia, however, he made up for it as he took the game by the scruff of the neck from the moment he entered the stage in the 63rd minute of what was a disappointing contest up to that point.
Parrott almost scored as the game moved into injury-time but was denied by the visiting keeper, however, with the five minutes of added time elapsed, one last chance dropped to the Dubliner, and this time he made no mistake, dispatching an unstoppable effort, 25 yards from goal.
"I'm still shaking now. It was honestly one of the best feelings I’ve ever had in my life," said Parrott, speaking at the post match press conference.
"When Conor [Hourihane] was going to cross the ball, I was too far away from getting into the box so I kind of tried to read where the second ball was going to land and it fell straight to me.
"It felt like the ball was never going to come down. I had to take two touches before I could get the shot off but, as I said, I’m over the moon."
Parrott said that he knew the shot had a great chance once the ball moved past the two defenders between player and goal, and he admitted that it was the best week of his blossoming football career.
"As soon as it didn’t get blocked by the first man that was coming out I had a feeling it was going towards the goal. To see it hit the back of the net was crazy," beamed Parrott.
"By far. By far," said the man raised on Buckingham Street, Dublin 1, when asked whether it was his best moment in football. "To score the winner that late in the Aviva in front of the home fans, maybe a mile or so away from my house, is honestly incredible."
Parrott played in all three front positions during the 30-odd minutes of the game as the team reacted to substitutions, and while manager Stephen Kenny feels that centre-forward is his preferred position, the Spurs loanee stressed his need to be flexible to give him a better chance of being involved.
The international week actually began with Parrott speaking to the media on Monday, and he spoke with real maturity about the improvements he has made in his game and the focus and attention that he has brought to his training regime.
And both Kenny and assistant manager Keith Andrews also spoke of the changes and improvement that they have noticed from the player in recent months, and as the window closes at the end of the ten-day Dublin camp, Parrott admitted that it has been a very important spell with the international team.
"It’s been a really good week and as I said earlier in the week, most of the work is done in training," said Parrott.
"It’s so important and especially for me. All week I feel like I’ve trained to the best that I can, and you reap the rewards for that.
"In this stage of my career it's massively important that I can play in different positions so I am selectable, and not just in one preferred position. Luckily, I’ve been blessed with a gift that I can play in them positions and it gets me on the pitch.
"Growing up I was always a striker and it’s where I played for most of my career coming up through the academy and things like that.
"But I don’t mind which position I play in. If it gets me on the pitch, I’m happy to do a job anywhere."
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
