Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher expressed a mix of emotions after being awarded the player of the match accolade in the 2-2 draw against Hungary at Aviva Stadium.
Adam Idah came off the bench to earn the home side a point against 10-man Hungary in their opening Group F World Cup qualifier.
The Swansea striker's header in the third minute of added time made it 2-2 after Ireland had fought their way back from 2-0 down to stave off the spectre of defeat.
A torrid start to proceedings saw Barnabas Varga and Roland Sallai, who was later dismissed, score inside the first 15 minutes.
Roma striker Evan Ferguson reduced the deficit early in the second half and Sallai’s premature departure left the Hungarians under a siege that they eventually could not withstand.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Kelleher said: "We were disappointed with the first half, conceding so early on is not what we wanted to do.
"But all you can do after that is come back, and I thought we did really well second half.
"We definitely deserved to win in the end, I think.
"If you said 2-0 down at half time, you'd take a 2-2 draw. We'll move on."
Like the rest of us, player of the match Caoimhín Kelleher was unhappy with Ireland's first-half display, but encouraged by the response after the restart in the 2-2 draw with Hungary pic.twitter.com/RCgj4Gk9CK
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 6, 2025
The Brentford netminder brilliantly denied Sallai a brace after Bendeguz Bolla’s 44th-minute cross gave the visitors a terrific chance, and the importance of that stop was not lost on the Cork man.
"If they get the third, it's probably game over and we just said when we got in at half-time that the next goal was going to be important," Kelleher added.
"We got that and then we obviously got the second as well, but I was trying to help the team."
Hungary's second-half time wasting frustrated all of an Irish persuasion, but it was at least understandable, with Kelleher more annoyed by some of the decisions of referee Harm Osmers.
"You have to give praise to them for being streetwise," Ireland's number one said of the wily opponents.
"I think the ref got a few wrong when we were challenging for headers; he was giving a lot of fouls in the box against us, which is disappointing."
An away fixture against Armenia looms on Tuesday, and looking ahead, Kelleher concluded: "It's the first game of the campaign. You can't go through in the first game but you can certainly go out of it, so I think we're still in it, obviously.
"Move on to Armenia now, get the three points and I think four points from the first games in September is a positive and we can push on from there."
