Ireland Host Austria in Crucial UEFA Nations League Clash in Dublin
On Thursday, October 1, Ireland faced Austria at Dublin's Aviva Stadium in the third round of UEFA Nations League Group B3, with Troy Parrott putting the hosts ahead early in the game.
Match Overview
On Thursday, 1 October 2026, the Republic of Ireland hosted Austria at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin for matchday three of UEFA Nations League Group B3. Sources differ slightly on the kick-off time — OneFootball lists 18:45 UK time, while TechRadar cites 19:45 BST (2:45pm ET). The match was broadcast free via RTÉ Player in Ireland and ORF On in Austria, alongside paid services elsewhere, including FuboTV and ViX in the US, Prime Video in the UK, DAZN in Canada and beIN Sports Connect in Australia.
Form and Team News
Austria arrived in Dublin on a perfect run, having won both opening Nations League fixtures — 3-1 against Israel and 3-1 against Kosovo — scoring six goals in total, and sat 22nd in the FIFA world rankings. However, the squad was missing several key players: David Alaba and Marcel Sabitzer were unavailable for this window, Konrad Laimer and Michael Gregoritsch were only fit for the bench due to injury, Paul Wanner and Nikolas Veratschnig had left the camp with knocks, and Kevin Danso was suspended.
Ireland, ranked 55th by FIFA, came into the match with mixed recent results — a 1-0 loss to Kosovo followed by a 3-0 win over Israel. The hosts were also missing Jack Taylor, Mikey Johnston, Evan Ferguson, Jamie McGrath and Josh Cullen through injury. According to TechRadar, Troy Parrott had scored seven goals in his previous five games, while Jack Moylan had scored in four consecutive appearances for Ireland.
History and Predictions
The two nations have met 16 times, with Austria winning nine, Ireland three, and four draws. Ireland remained unbeaten in the last two meetings, in 2016 and 2017 — a 1-0 win and a 1-1 draw. Ahead of kick-off, pundits including OneFootball favoured Austria to win, also predicting over 2.5 total goals and both teams to score.
What Happened
Early in the match, Troy Parrott put Ireland ahead — his goal was highlighted by Yahoo Sports and OneFootball as one of the standout goals of the Nations League round, with Ireland leading 1-0 at that point. The available sources do not report the final score. Before kick-off, a small group of "Stop the Game" activists gathered near the stadium to protest Ireland's matches against Israel, according to the Associated Press.
