Idah ends 'crazy' week with crucial Republic of Ireland goal

Monday: Complete a deadline day move from Celtic to Championship side Swansea City.

Saturday: Score a late equaliser off the bench for your country to rescue a point in a 2-2 draw against Hungary in the first game of World Cup qualifying.

By his own admission, it has been a "crazy" week for Republic of Ireland striker Adam Idah.

After putting pen to paper on a five-year contract with the Swans, he jetted home to to gear up for the Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifiers against Hungary and Armenia.

By Saturday evening, he had sprung from the bench to score his sixth international goal, which was probably the most important of them all to salvage a much-needed point.

Like many simply watching the game on Saturday, a busy couple of days have churned up a rollercoaster of emotions for the striker.

"The manager told when I came on to get in the box as there would be a lot of crosses coming in, so I had to try get on one," he told BBC Sport NI.

"When the ball fell to Ryan Manning, I know what type of crosser he is and the ball fell perfectly for me, it was just about staying focused on the ball and getting my head to it.

"It was a crazy week. I had no thoughts of leaving Celtic, but Swansea came in. It was a good project for me to go down to the Championship and restart. I loved my time at Celtic, I had some amazing memories, but it was probably time for me to move on and have a fresh start."

Republic of Ireland fans had too dreamed of a 'fresh start' as there was renewed optimism ahead of the Hungary game that the squad under Heimir Hallgrimsson was capable of qualifying for a first World Cup since 2002 after an unbeaten start to 2025.

That optimism had effectively dissipated by 20:00 BST when they trailed Hungary 2-0 after 16 minutes as poor defending allowed Barnabas Varga and Roland Sallai to score.

Hope returned as Heimir Hallgrimsson's side roared back in the second half, with Evan Ferguson pulling one back before Sallai was sent off.

Then, in the 93rd minute, came Idah's big moment; he was in the right place at the right time to plant a towering header from Ryan Manning's cross beyond Denes Dibusz.

Despite rescuing a point, there was a lingering feeling of frustration of 'what could have been' for the Republic of Ireland in a game many felt was must-win in this condensed campaign if they were to contend for qualification.

They dominated after Sallai's dismissal and pumped cross after cross into the box, but only really threatened twice, with Finn Azaz having a header clawed away superbly by Dibusz and Idah then showing the predatory instinct that other Irish players had lacked.

Still, whilst evidently disappointed they couldn't take all three points, Idah pointed to their resilience to fight back as something to be proud of.

"It was a bit of a strange one. To go 2-0 down early on is tough and a lot of people probably thought we were out of the game but to bring it back was great," he added.

"We didn't lose the game is a positive, but we could have went on and won it. In previous games we go 2-0 down early on it probably kills us but we came back and fought well and unfortunate we didn't get the three points.

"You could look back on this game and it could be important for us. If you can't win, don't lose and that's what we did tonight."