Whatever happens in the remainder of Troy Parrott's career, Budapest on 16 November 2025 will always be near the pinnacle.
Not satisfied with a brace against Portugal on Thursday, three days later a hat-trick, including a lasp gasp winner from the Dubliner, led the Republic of Ireland towards a 2026 World Cup play-off that had seemed improbable when this final window of the qualifiers had begun.
Five goals in the space of fewer days and the 23-year-old is the first of this generation of Irish strikers to hit double figures for his country.
And perhaps, it was to be expected that he would leave some mark on these qualifiers once he regained fitness, having started the season in red-hot form for AZ Alkmaar.
Parrott has scored 13 goals in 14 games in all competitions this season for the Dutch club and that has led to plenty of speculation about moves to teams in the Big Five leagues - and Sunday will only have fuelled that interest.
If and when he does make the decision to sign for another club in the medium term - he reportedly turned down a switch to Wolfsburg in the summer - former Ireland striker Kevin Doyle believes Parrott has matured physically and mentally, growing into a place where he will be ready for that next challenge.
"All of a sudden he's being linked with big clubs again from being at Spurs, going down, building his career," Doyle said on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast as he and Ray Houghton dissected a famous night in Budapest.
"The fact he's gone abroad and done well, it doesn't matter where he goes as long as it's a decently-sized club in a good league.
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"It doesn't matter if he goes to Germany or comes back to the Premier League. I think it'll be no bother to him because he has built an all-round game.
"Strikers, you don't score every week, it doesn't matter really unless you're (Erling) Haaland possibly. But if you don't score, you have to have more to your game and he's added that now.
"So I don't think it's going to matter where he goes. He can link play up, he's fast enough to run in behind, he mixes and matches the way he plays.
"He's developed an upper body strength. He doesn't look like he has it but he does have it. So he'll pick a club, he looks like a mature chap now, he knows what it's like at a big club like Spurs and how it can go wrong.
"It's not all rosy at big clubs. I'm sure he'll take his time, he looks mature, he seems to have good people around him now that he will make the right choice and be a success wherever he goes."
Before Parrott had the Dutch courage to move abroad, his young career had been stop-start, never really getting a look-in at Tottenham Hotspur and being farmed out on successive loans in the English pyramid, prior to a first foray into the Netherlands with Excelsior Rotterdam.
Those difficult periods will stand him in better stead than if things had come more easily, according to Doyle.
"I think he'll have a better career and be a better player because of what happened to him over the last few years," he said.
"If he'd come along as a superstar at Spurs, I don't think he'd be a better person for it. The fact that he has had to go away, come back again, earn it, go to a different country, you can see he's a more rounded person now and a better all-round player.
"He was always a goalscorer growing up. Until I saw him play against Bulgaria in the Nations League last March, I went 'wow' after that game. He didn't score in that game, but his hold-up play, his energy, his work-rate, his closing down, how he brought people into the game, 'he's the number nine now' and it's something I don't think Evan Ferguson has at the moment.
"Evan has the goalscoring but doesn't have the all-round game that Troy has brought, and that's not to say that Evan won't have it by the way - he can work on it, he's still a couple of years younger than Troy - but Troy has learned that and brought that side to his game and now if he doesn't score in a game, he's still effective, he gets Ireland up the pitch.
"I love his energy, his enthusiasm and how for a lad who's not massive, he'll win headers, he'll tackle, he'll fight for every ball and he has quality."
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