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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Oisin Doherty

'Obafemi & Parrott could play up front together for next 10 years' -Shay Given

Shay Given was full of praise for Michael Obafemi and Troy Parrott, saying they could lead the line for Ireland for the next decade after the pair caught the eye in a glittering display against Scotland.

Obafemi and Parrott both scored a goal each and owed the assist to their partner. Obafemi played a delightful ball for Parrott to head home in the first half, while Parrott laid on Obafemi for the Swansea stars second half screamer.

And Given was full of optimism for what the two men might achieve together in the future.

"Parrott's 20, Obafemi's 21, you're looking for shoots of things to hold onto, these guys could be the future," said Given.

"They could be the next 10 years."

"If they can build up a relationship and play like they did to day."

"Why can I not just dream about that?"

Coming into today's game, Ireland had failed to score a home goal in the history of the Nations League. After goalless outings against Armenia and Ukraine, Richie Sadlier, who appeared on RTE alongside Given, was delighted to see some cutting edge in Ireland's attack.

"We were looking for goals, it's not a team that's free scoring," said Sadlier.

"My God did they produce today so fair play to them."

"See this footage here, there's so much energy, closing the players down and winning tackles."

"This is the kind of physicality we didn't see in the previous two games."

"This moment of brilliance, the goalkeeper couldn't do anything because of the swerve and the way the ball moved in the air."

"Outstanding, outstanding goal."

Given was also full of praise for Obafemi. The former Irish shot stopper, who was capped 134 times for The Boys in Green, beautifully articulated why Obafemi's strike was so difficult for Craig Gordon to deal with.

"A phenomenal third goal," said Given.

"I just love his enthusiasm after he scored as well, what it meant to him."

"I think it's the power as well, from a goalkeeping point of view, you're sort of set and then it moves all over the shop."

"The power in it is just immense."

Hopefully there are many more magic moments to come with Obafemi and Parrott spearheading the Irish attack.

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