Ireland Stuns Canada with Late Equalizer from Ogbene

The script in Montreal was written for Canada. Full house, World Cup on the horizon, a tidy farewell win to send Jesse Marsch’s side bouncing into a home tournament.

Ireland tore it up.

Chiedozie Ogbene’s instinctive second-half finish, pouncing on the rebound from Troy Parrott’s saved penalty, earned a 1-1 draw at Saputo Stadium and turned a Canadian celebration into a slightly awkward goodbye.

Canada on top, Ireland hanging on

For long stretches, this looked like a routine night for the World Cup co-hosts. Ireland started with promise, then vanished.

Heimir Hallgrimsson had freshened his team with six changes from the win over Qatar, and there was a landmark moment in his selection: Bohemians captain Dawson Devoy handed a first cap and thrown straight into the XI, the first League of Ireland player to start for the senior side since Jack Byrne in November 2020. Jaden Umeh and Corrie Ndaba also received their first starts.

Devoy almost crowned it with an early goal. On nine minutes, neat interplay between Ogbene and Parrott sliced Canada open and released the Bohemians midfielder into the box. The angle was tight, Maxime Crepeau sprinted out, and Devoy’s effort skewed away from goal. It rattled the home defence, but not the scoreboard.

From there, Canada seized control.

Tajon Buchanan tested Mark Travers inside two minutes, a sharp drive that stung the goalkeeper’s palms and set the tone. Buchanan and Liam Millar pushed Ireland’s wing-backs deep, pinning Hallgrimsson’s side into their own third. Corners began to stack up, Irish clearances turned hopeful, and the crowd sensed a breakthrough.

It came midway through the half, from another set piece Ireland never truly looked comfortable with.

Stephen Eustaquio whipped in a dangerous corner from the left. Parrott, stationed at the near post, got the slightest touch with his head. The ball flicked on, smacked into Jake O’Brien, and flew past Travers. An own goal, harsh on the centre-back, but entirely in keeping with the pattern of the game.

By the interval, Canada were a goal up and several gears ahead. Ireland were chasing shadows.

Hallgrimsson rolls the dice

Hallgrimsson did not wait to see if things would fix themselves. At half-time he hooked Devoy and Ndaba, sending on Jamie McGrath and Liam Scales to try and wrestle back some control.

The early stages of the second half didn’t suggest a turnaround. Canada continued to dictate, moving the ball with confidence, Jonathan David and Cyle Larin probing for gaps as Ireland’s back line retreated and reset, again and again.

Then the game flipped on a single, reckless moment.

Just before the hour, a hopeful ball into the Canadian box looked routine. Larin, back helping his defence, tried to clear with a high boot. Instead, he caught McGrath on the head. The contact was clumsy, needless, and right in front of the referee.

Penalty to Ireland.

Parrott stepped up, shoulders squared, the noise swelling around him. His strike was true enough but Crepeau guessed correctly, plunging to save and push the ball out into the six-yard box.

Canada froze. Ogbene did not.

The Luton Town forward reacted first, darting in to sweep the rebound into the empty net for his fifth international goal. Against the run of play, Ireland were level, and the mood inside Saputo Stadium shifted in an instant.

Young faces, new energy

The equaliser energised Ireland. Passes that had gone astray began to find feet. The press sharpened. Canada still carried a threat – and almost punished a lapse when Larin pounced on a Nathan Collins slip with 20 minutes left, only for the chance to fizzle out – but Ireland now looked like a team intent on more than survival.

Hallgrimsson used the closing stages to accelerate a quiet revolution.

On 70 minutes, 18-year-old Mason Melia arrived for his second cap, replacing Umeh, while Killian Phillips came on for Séamus Coleman. Suddenly, Ireland’s front line had a distinctly youthful edge, with Ogbene leading the charge.

Melia’s moment nearly came on 83 minutes. Ogbene, now tormenting the Canadian defence, worked space on the right and whipped in a precise cross. The former St Patrick’s Athletic teenager found himself free, timing his run perfectly. His header was clean, the connection solid, but Crepeau again stood tall, beating the ball away and denying what would have been a dream first international goal.

As the clock wound down, the debuts kept coming.

Joe Hodge was introduced on 88 minutes, followed by St Pat’s playmaker Kian Leavy and Shamrock Rovers winger Adam Brennan in stoppage time. In one night, four League of Ireland products – Devoy, Melia, Leavy and Brennan – had stepped onto the senior stage, bridging a six-year gap for domestic-based caps and offering a glimpse of a different kind of future.

The closing minutes were scrappy, experimental, and exactly what Hallgrimsson would have expected from a side full of new combinations. Canada pushed, Ireland held firm. The whistle went with the World Cup hosts still searching for a winner that never came.

For Marsch, it was a reminder that dominance without ruthlessness can leave a mark. For Ireland, a summer window that began with a win over Qatar ended with a draw against a World Cup-bound side – and, perhaps more importantly, a sense that the pathway from the League of Ireland to the national team is finally open again.

Next up is the Nations League in the autumn. The question now is simple: which of these new faces will still be in the team when the games start to matter a whole lot more?