Republic of Ireland fans had too dreamed of a “fresh start” as there was renewed optimism before 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 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 could not 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.”
