Szmodics subplot adds colourful note to clash against Hungary
Marco Rossi’s men arrive in Dublin in good health
If John O’Shea has a football fantasy it probably involves a young Irish player scoring a 35-yard thunderbolt to help Ireland beat Hungary before going on to win multiple world championships. Remarkably this actually happened in 2007 but unfortunately for the FAI the player concerned was Katie Taylor, who after her extraordinary goal at Tolka Park restricted her subsequent knock-out blows to the boxing ring.
Mind you the FAI have been doing a bit of fighting themselves recently. The two most recent matches between Hungary and Ireland in 2012 and 2021 ended 0-0, highlighting both teams lack of a goalscorer. Tuesday’s match could be considered the inaugural ‘Sammie Szmodics Derby’ with both countries pursuing the Blackburn Rovers striker until he made an overdue Irish debut against Belgium in March.
Hungary boss Marco Rossi did not take Szmodics’ declaration for Ireland well, damning the Championship’s top scorer with faint praise, claiming “we don’t need such a person even if he is a technically good player.”
This recent note of disharmony is unfortunate as Hungary made a massive contribution to the early development of football in this country. Ireland’s most frequent pre-war opponents were Hungary, who played us five times in an era when they were one of the world’s strongest teams. Hungary were the visitors to the Mardyke in 1939 when Ireland first hosted a fixture outside of Dublin.
A capacity crowd in Cork watched an entertaining 2-2 draw unaware that it would be Ireland’s last home game for seven years. The match offered the FAI an early illustration of the downside of sharing a predominately rugby facility with the game delayed for 48 hours as the ground was required for a Munster Cup fixture.
Working out precisely how often Ireland have played Hungary is a difficult task. Fifa refused to recognise Ireland’s pre-Euro 2012 friendly in Budapest as an official international because of the use of a non-approved assistant referee.
However, they did allow caps to be awarded — a crucial ruling for Damien Duff who retained his membership of Ireland’s centurion club having retired on exactly 100 caps.
Much more confusing was the testimonial match of David O’Leary in May 1993 at Lansdowne Road where a Republic of Ireland XI played Hungary in a game the FAI do not consider an official international, but the visitors do. Managing the Hungarian team that day was Ferenc Puskás, who saw his side go behind to a Roy Keane goal after just 10 seconds before recovering from 2-0 down to win 4-2.
Universally acknowledged as Hungary’s greatest ever player, Puskás was the undoubted star of the Mighty Magyars. In 1953 Hungary beat England 6-3 at Wembley in the ‘Match of the Century’. The drag back for Puskás’ first goal so flummoxed Billy Wright that the England captain was described by The Times newspaper as skidding off the pitch “like a fire engine heading to the wrong fire”.
After the match Hungary were credited as being the first foreign team to defeat England at home, which came as surprising news to fans of Ireland who had enjoyed a 2-0 win at Goodison Park in 1949. In 1954, England travelled to Budapest seeking revenge but lost 7-1, which seven decades on remains their heaviest ever defeat.
Having won the gold medal at the 1952 Olympic Games, Hungary travelled to the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland as hot favourites having not being beaten in more than four years. But in the final Hungary inexplicably threw away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 to West Germany.
When the two countries met in the group stage a fortnight earlier, Hungary won 8-3, explaining why their final victory is still remembered in Germany as ‘The Miracle of Bern’.
Every year Fifa give the Puskás Award to the scorer of the most beautiful goal of the year, with Stephanie Roche being shortlisted in 2013. Hungary play at the Puskás Arena, which was a host venue for Euro 2020 and was recently awarded hosting rights for the
2026 Champions League final.
In November 1969, John Dempsey became the first Irish player to be sent off in a senior international when he was dismissed in a 4-0 defeat to Hungary in Budapest.
On a happier note, Tuesday marks the 35th anniversary of Ireland’s first and most famous victory over Hungary, a 2-0 win in a World Cup qualifier at Lansdowne Road that proved crucial in enabling the Boys in Green to qualify for Italia 90.
Although the Hungary senior team has not returned since then, their under 17 team qualified for the 2019 Euros that were hosted in Ireland.
Hungary performed exceptionally well, winning all three of their group games before being eliminated on penalties by Spain in the quarter-finals following a 1-1 draw at the UCD Bowl.
The most successful Hungarian club side are Ferencváros who have just won their sixth successive title. In both of the last two seasons, Shamrock Rovers faced Ferencváros in European competition with the Hungarian side progressing comfortably on both occasions, although the Hoops did secure a 1-0 second leg win at Tallaght Stadium in 2022. Only a handful of Hungarians have played in the League of Ireland, most notably Krisztián Adorján, who won the title with Dundalk in 2018.
Hungary make a long overdue return to Dublin in excellent form having remained unbeaten since September 2022 and qualified for Euro 2024 as group winners. Much of the credit for this must go to their Italian manager Marco Rossi who was appointed Hungary boss in June 2018 a year after leading Honved to a domestic title.
At the time of his appointment Hungary were in the doldrums having lost a 2018 World Cup qualifier 1-0 to an Andorra side who ended their 66-match winless run in competitive matches despite only completing 44 passes. Star player and captain is Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai who scored the last-minute winner that qualified Hungary for Euro 2020 but missed the tournament through injury.
The majority of the Hungary squad play overseas including Callum Styles (Barnsley) and the vastly underrated Milos Kerkez (Bournemouth).