Kenny lauds Parrott: 'He is a terrific young man and he’s very popular in the dressing room'

Rónán McNamara reports from the Aviva Stadium

Stephen Kenny lauded the attitude of substitute Troy Parrott after his 97^th-minute strike gave Ireland a deserved 1-0 win over a stubborn Lithuania side at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night.

Kenny made six changes from the team who earned a draw against Belgium last Saturday but there was no place in the XI for the MK Dons forward with Wigan bagsman Will Keane leading the line while Chiedoze Ogbene and Callum Robinson retained their places on the flanks of a front three.

Parrott replaced Keane just after the hour mark and Kenny was delighted with the impact the youngster made which included a brilliant winner from 25-yards and singled out his positive attitude after being disappointed not to start.

“It was a brilliant goal from Troy Parrott,” he said.

“When you are making changes there are a whole variety of reasons. He would have wanted to start, and he would have been disappointed not to start. I have a relationship with him over a period and I spoke to him about it, and he hid his disappointment and channelled it in the way he would want to.

“The easy thing would have been to show a bad attitude, but he showed two characteristics that he has an exceptional talent to strike a ball from distance. To do it in the 97^th minute at 0-0."

“The two games he has scored were games that were going against us. He is still learning and obviously he could end up in the [League One] playoffs and at Wembley possibly. It’s all good experiences and we will see how he gets on. He is a terrific young man and he’s very popular in the dressing room and he showed he is a good teammate.

“He sees himself as a number nine and he’s probably right. His long-term career is as a number nine. He played in three positions in the time he was on tonight. He started on the left and then we brought Knighty and Scott Hogan on. He has the tactical flexibility,” he added.

Ten of the 24 goals scored under Stephen Kenny have come after the 84^th minute with the most recent cases coming against Serbia, Luxembourg, Belgium and now Lithuania. Ireland were relentless in their pressure in the closing stages and a raucous home crowd put aside their frustrations to roar the team forward creating a crackling atmosphere as the game ticked towards the finish.

Kenny praised the belief and ability of the team to keep going until the final whistle and they were duly rewarded with a last kick of the game winner.

“To be fair to the players, getting late goals is a very important quality in a team. Late goals against Azerbaijan, Serbia, three against Luxembourg, Belgium and again today, it’s important. You cannot underestimate the value of persistence and it shows the ability of the group to keep going.

“I’ve never been involved in a game with four goals disallowed. To celebrate and the late flag goes up and you can’t believe it. The frustration can get the better of you and it didn’t which was important. We kept passing and kept believing we could create the openings and we left it very late.”

Lithuania rarely ventured forward and were content to drop deep with their 4-2-3-1 formation becoming a 5-5-0 for the majority of the game. Ogbene thought he had made an early breakthrough in the opening half only to be foiled by the offside flag and Ireland didn’t create anything of note before the interval.

Having gone toe to toe with the number one ranked side on Saturday, Kenny feels his side will have learned a lot of lessons after a completely different challenge from the Lithuanians and spirits are high going into the UEFA Nations League campaign in June.

“We needed to inject tempo into our build-up, our crossing, and our reluctance to cross in the final third we never really worked anything. We needed to pass into the feet of the front three quicker.

“A low block they were dealing with crosses well. If Chio’s goal goes in they have to open and come at you. Some things worked and some things didn’t work.

“We learned a good deal from the game.

“Obviously when you change a number of personnel in your team it’s not going to work seamlessly all the time. Our front three weren’t as cohesive as they might have been, but they still worked hard and gave everything for the team.

“Will Keane will learn a lot from his first start, he is better than he showed tonight but he will get a lot from that.

“Tactically we ask something different from him compared to what he does at club level but certainly he is a good player.

“Ryan Manning when he went to left centre back gave us a range of passing from that position and opened up the game for us a little bit more with James McClean playing much higher, so it gave us more penetration.

“We didn’t concede any chances on the night and didn’t create enough chances in the first half, so we needed to create more than we did. Overall, I think it has been a very beneficial few days and the support we have had has been amazing.

“I think that will bring itself into the Nations League games and the atmosphere at home will be electric,” he added.