Ireland Stuns Canada with Late Equalizer in Montreal
The banners, the noise, the World Cup buzz – Montreal had turned up for a celebration. Ireland refused to play their part.
Chiedozie Ogbene’s sharp finish, spun in after Troy Parrott’s saved penalty, earned a 1-1 draw at Saputo Stadium and cut through the Canadian party soundtrack. Jesse Marsch’s side, bound for a home World Cup and eager to flex, instead found themselves dragged into a scrap by a patched-together Irish team that grew stronger the longer the night went on.
For Heimir Hallgrimsson, it was more than just a result. It was a night when the League of Ireland finally stepped back into the senior international spotlight.
Canada on top, Ireland hanging on
The tone was set almost immediately. Two minutes in, Tajon Buchanan darted inside and cracked a shot that Mark Travers had to beat away. Liam Millar drove at the opposite flank, stretching a back line that never looked settled in the opening half-hour.
Ireland did have an early glimpse of something more ambitious. On nine minutes, a slick move offered a first hint of what Hallgrimsson wants from his side. Ogbene linked with Parrott, who slipped Dawson Devoy into the box. The Bohemians captain, making his debut and history as the first League of Ireland-based player capped since Jack Byrne in 2020, took it on from a tight angle. Maxime Crepeau rushed out, the shot skewed wide, and Canada breathed again.
That was it for Irish threat before the break. From there, red shirts swarmed forward.
Corners piled up. Buchanan and Millar kept pinning Ireland back, and the pressure eventually snapped the visitors’ resistance midway through the half. Stephen Eustaquio whipped in a wicked corner from the left, the ball flicked off Parrott at the near post, and slammed into Jake O’Brien, who could do nothing as it ricocheted over the line.
An own goal, harsh on the centre-back, but fully in keeping with the pattern of the game. Canada had control. Ireland had questions.
By half-time, the hosts led 1-0 and looked comfortable. Ireland, with Devoy and fellow starter Corrie Ndaba both finding the pace and intensity heavy going, needed a reset.
Hallgrimsson gambles, Ireland respond
Hallgrimsson moved quickly. Jamie McGrath and Liam Scales arrived for Devoy and Ndaba at the interval, and with them came a little more composure.
Canada still dictated the early moments of the second half. Jonathan David knitted play together, Cyle Larin prowled on the shoulder, and the Irish defence lived dangerously. Yet the visitors at least began to keep the ball, to string passes together, to breathe.
Then the game turned on a moment of rashness.
Just before the hour, a high, hopeful ball dropped in the Canadian area. McGrath went to challenge, Larin swung a boot far too high, and his studs caught the midfielder in the head. It was clumsy, obvious, and left the referee with a simple decision: penalty to Ireland.
Parrott grabbed the ball. A chance to flip the narrative. He struck low, but Crepeau guessed right and pushed the shot away.
For a heartbeat, the stadium roared, sensing a big save in a big World Cup send-off. Then Ogbene killed the noise.
The Luton Town forward reacted first, racing in from the right to bury the rebound into the empty net. Fifth international goal. 1-1. Ireland, who had barely landed a punch since Devoy’s early chance, were suddenly level and brimming with life.
Canada wobbled. Ireland, at last, started to look like a team that believed they belonged on the same pitch.
Young faces, old resilience
The equaliser injected purpose into Irish legs. Passes sharpened. Challenges bit. Hallgrimsson, emboldened, leaned even harder into experimentation.
There was still danger. With 20 minutes left, Nathan Collins slipped and Larin almost punished him, only for the chance to go begging. It was a reminder that Canada, for all their frustration, still had the firepower to win it.
Hallgrimsson kept rolling the dice. On came Mason Melia, just 18 and already attracting attention at Tottenham Hotspur, for his second cap. Killian Phillips followed, then later Joe Hodge, Kian Leavy and Adam Brennan – a flurry of fresh faces with a strong League of Ireland accent.
The boldness nearly delivered a statement moment.
On 83 minutes, Ogbene once again found space on the right and stood up a teasing cross. Melia, drifting into a pocket in the box, met it cleanly. This was the chance, the kind that rewrites a teenager’s career trajectory in an instant.
Crepeau denied him. Strong hands, strong positioning, and the ball stayed out. Melia held his head. Ireland held their shape.
Those closing minutes, with an almost entirely reworked Irish side on the pitch, could easily have unravelled. Instead, the newcomers dug in. Scales marshalled the back line, Hodge and Leavy snapped into midfield duels, Brennan hugged the touchline and offered an outlet.
Canada, urged forward by a crowd craving a winner, ran into a wall of green shirts. The hosts’ tempo faded. The cohesion that had marked their first-half display deserted them as the clock ran down.
Ireland saw it out. No late drama, no collapse, no soft concession. Just a quietly impressive, hard-earned draw against a team heading to the biggest stage.
A draw with meaning
On paper, it goes down as a 1-1 friendly result in early summer, a footnote before the Nations League returns in the autumn.
On the pitch, it felt like something more useful.
Hallgrimsson watched a scratch side absorb heavy pressure away from home, ride out a poor first half, and then find a way back with character and opportunism. He handed four players their first caps – Devoy, Leavy, Brennan and Hodge – and gave Melia another taste of senior international football. Three of those debutants came straight from the League of Ireland, ending a six-year wait for domestic-based representation at this level.
Ireland did not dazzle. They did not dominate. But in a stadium dressed for a Canadian celebration, they refused to fade into the background.
Next comes the Nations League, and sterner, more meaningful tests. If Ireland can bring this mix of resilience, opportunism and fresh blood into competitive games, nights like Montreal may start to feel less like surprises and more like a plan taking shape.
