Troy Parrott: 'Obviously, no one wants to be criticized, but it pushes me and makes me want to do even better'

On the 12th attempt, Stephen Kenny finally got his first win as manager of the Republic of Ireland senior men’s team when they ran out 4-1 winners over Andorra.

After a frustrating opening 45 minutes, and an infuriating conceded goal just after the restart, 19-year-old Troy Parrott took the game by the scruff of the neck and scored twice in three minutes to put Ireland ahead.

It was a nervy six minutes after Ireland conceded, until Parrott popped with a brace to extinguish Irish fears.

The former Belvedere striker, who had not scored for Ireland in his four caps, now had two goals within three minutes.

Late strikes from Jason Knight and Daryl Horgan, who also both picked up their first Ireland goals, put the game to bed as Ireland left the Estadi Nacional with the job done.

Speaking after the 4-1 win, player of the match Troy Parrott spoke about how much his brace meant to him, following a disappointing past 12 months at club level.

“Its been a tough season to be fair, I’ve got a lot of criticism. Things do not always go to plan, but I am really, really happy to finish the season strong. To contribute two goals gives me massive confidence, and the whole team confidence.

“Obviously, no one wants to be criticized, but it pushes me and makes me want to do even better. I just want to keep pushing on”.

“I think you should always take confidence out of a win, scoring four goals is also big for us. We can take confidence and bring it into the next game. I think people should be excited”.

Parrott also refused to comment on his future ahead of next season.

Manager Stephen Kenny accepted that it took his side a while to kick into gear and praised his players second half performance.

“Early on our midfield players were too deep receiving the ball, and there were big gaps between our midfield and attacking players.

“They were a difficult team to break down, very organised. They don't concede that many chances. I’m not going to lie to you, it was disappointing to concede the goal”.

“When we got the first goal it was definitely a turning point. There was definitely some pressure on the lads after conceding.

“Troy showed great character to get the goal, and we were more cohesive after that. “Confidence is an important thing in football, we created a lot of chances and took four very good goals.”

Playing a back four for the first time since last November, Kenny said, “In the last camp we played a 5-2-3 system, but we went with a back four tonight, a sort of 4-4-1-1.

“We did not have that cohesive movement between the midfield two in the first half. When the opposition sit off its not effective.

“We needed to get Josh and Conor further up and let them link with the attacking players like we did in the second half.”

Kenny also touched on the impact of Troy Parrott and some of the criticism about his inclusion.

“Troy has not had his best season , but he showed a lot of character. We want to have a bit of conviction.

“Some people said why is he in the squad and not with the under 21’s. We needed to have that goal threat.

“He gets in the box, links the play, and has the capacity to score goals. Just because we are on a bad run, we’re not going to go away from what we’re doing and scrap it because were under pressure.”

Ahead of next week’s friendly against Hungary in Budapest, Kenny added, “they’ve qualified for the Euros and topped their group. It is a good game for us, it will go up a level again, so we have to improve.

"It was a very strong second half tonight and the players can take confidence from that. It will be a bigger test on Tuesday”.