Troy Parrott rescues Ireland from Lithuania stalemate

Troy Parrott came off the bench to secure Ireland a dramatic last-gasp 1-0 international friendly victory over Lithuania at the Aviva Stadium.

Stephen Kenny's side struggled to penetrate a stubborn and well-organised Lithuanian outfit and it took them until injury time at the end of the game to finally break the deadlock.

And it was 20-year-old Troy Parrott who showed real class, composure, finesse and ferocity as he slammed an unstoppable effort home from outside the area in the 96th minute to secure the win and increase Ireland’s unbeaten run to eight games.

A plethora of changes were made to the Ireland side that drew with Belgium as the team were brought back down from Saturday's high to a half-empty arena showing that some international friendlies do not truly whet the appetite.

There was a strong Cork influence in the starting XI with five Rebels named in Kenny's selection, as Alan Browne and Conor Hourihane joined captain for the night John Egan, Caoimhin Kelleher and man of the moment Chiedozie Ogbene.

But it was the west that was awake in the early stages as Galway man Ryan Manning has an early chance to influence after Dara O’Shea did well to play him into an advanced position down the left in the fourth minute – the early cross was lacking, however.

Three minutes later a tempting ball dropped outside the box and Manning had the confidence to shoot. A tough ask with the ball taking an age to come down and the QPR man did well to make clean contact but the shot skewered wide.

And Manning was involved once again within a minute as he was played down the left by Conor Hourihane, and while the cross was inch-perfect and Chieodozie Ogbene’s finish clinical, it was a case of third time unlucky as the flag was rightly raised