Troy Parrott: Lithuania winner 'by far' the best moment of my career, says Republic striker

Republic boss Stephen Kenny said Parrott "channelled his disappointment" after he was left out of the starting line-up

Troy Parrott said firing a 97th-minute winner in the Republic of Ireland's friendly win over Lithuania was "by far" the best moment of his career.

Having replaced Will Keane just after the hour mark, Parrott rescued the Republic from a frustrating stalemate.

It was the 20-year-old's third international goal, and first at home.

"To score the winner that late in front of the home fans, maybe a mile or so away from my house was honestly incredible," said the striker.

After the Republic had seen four goals disallowed for offside, Parrott pounced on a Lithuanian clearance, took two touches and sent an unstoppable right-footed shot past keeper Dziugas Bartkus.

"I'm still shaking now," added Parrott, who is loan at MK Dons from Tottenham.

"It was honestly one of the best feelings I've ever had in my life. It felt like the ball was never going to come down.

"I had to take two touches before I could get the shot off, but yes, I'm over the moon."

Parrott intervened to turn the Republic's frustration into relief after they had earlier seen two strikes by Chiedozie Ogbene and two more from Conor Hourihane and substitute Scott Hogan ruled out for offside.

Parrott's last-gasp winner was the striker's first international goal at home with his previous two coming in last year's friendly win away to Andorra

Parrott had also been denied by a flying Bartkus save with his persistence drawing praise from Republic boss Stephen Kenny, who admitted the youngster was frustrated not to have started the game.

"He hid his disappointment and channelled it in the way that you would want him to," said Kenny, who last week praised Parrott's work ethic at MK Dons after a difficult spell in his young career.

"The easy thing would have been for him to be displeased and not showing the best of attitudes.

"But having had a shot tipped over just before, to get the goal showed two characteristics: one, that he has exceptional technical talent to strike a ball from distance with such venom and brilliant technique; and the second thing is to do it not when you're 2-0 up, to do it in the 97th minute when you're at 0-0."

The Republic's unbeaten run stretches to eight games and Kenny praised his team's continued knack for scoring late goals having also struck late to earn a draw with Belgium on Saturday.

"To be fair to the players, the ability to get late goals is a very, very important quality in a team," he added.

"We got late goals against Azerbaijan, Serbia, three against Luxembourg, against Belgium and again today.

"You can't underestimate the value of persistence, it's a very important quality in the team and it speaks about the humility of the group, that manifests itself in the ability to keep going."