Troy Parrott admitted scoring a dream winner in the last minute at the Aviva Stadium was the best moment of his career so far.
Parrott has the ability to go very far in his career, and he seems to have experienced a lightbulb moment in recent times in terms of the application that is required to get back to the top having made his Tottenham debut as a 17-year-old.
Now 20, the Dubliner reminded everyone of the special talent he possesses- in Ballsbridge tonight as he smashed a right foot shot home in the last minute of injury time to clinch a morale-boosting friendly victory over Lithuania.
"Oh, incredible, I'm still shaking now," said Parrott afterwards, when asked for his reaction on scoring his third goal at senior international level.
"It was honestly one of the best feelings I've ever had in my life.
"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 came 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 yeah, as I said, I'm over the moon.
"As soon as I didn't get blocked by the first man coming out I had a feeling it was going towards the goal. To see it hit the back of the net was crazy."
The best moment of his career to date? "By far," Parrott smiled. "By far. To score the winner that late in front of the home fans, maybe a mile or so away from my house, was honestly incredible."
Importantly, Parrott intervened in the friendly against Andorra last June to score his first two Ireland goals when Stephen Kenny's men went behind. His impact handed Kenny his first win as manager.
"Yeah, it's not something that I can control," said Parrott, who is currently on loan to MK Dons. "Obviously when I get the chance I want to take it and luckily tonight I could do that.
"It's a good trait to have. As a sub or as a starter, all you want to do is have an impact on the game and luckily tonight I could do that."
After Ireland had four goals disallowed on the night there was something fitting about Parrott grabbing the limelight in such dramatic fashion after he revealed last week that he had come to understand how he had to knuckle down to get the most out of a career that is brimming with potential.
"It's been a really good week and as I said at the start of the week, most of the work comes in training," he said.
"It's so important, especially for me, to train how I play and all week I feel that I've trained to the best that I can and you reap the rewards from that.
"I have been shooting really well in training all week.
"Obviously, you reap your rewards. I didn't think of anything else when the ball fell to me on the edge of the box.
"We're on a great run and we must take this into the Nations League."
