Republic of Ireland v Hungary  Prediction, Preview & Odds

We have a Republic of Ireland v Hungary prediction for you plus a breakdown of the betting odds, team news and matchups ahead of their friendly.

The Republic of Ireland are still very much in limbo with their managerial situation and this game gives O’Shea another chance to stake his claim for the main role as permanent manager.

Hungary on the other hand play this game ahead of a Euro 2024 tournament where a lot will be expected of them from their supporters following a strong record in their recent games and qualifying.

How To Watch Republic of Ireland v Hungary

When is Republic of Ireland v Hungary?

Republic of Ireland v Hungary will take place on Tuesday at 8.00 pm

TV Channel

RTÉ 2

Stream

RTÉ Player

Where is Republic of Ireland v Hungary Being Played?

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Republic of Ireland v Hungary Odds

Republic of Ireland are slight underdogs at 17/10 to land their first victory with John O’Shea as interim manager. Despite Hungary having qualified for Euro 2024 they’re only marginal favourites at 13/8 while the draw is seen as a 19/10 chance per the latest football odds at BoyleSports.

Handicap Betting

Republic of Ireland - 1 @ 5/1

Hungary ₊ 1 @ 4/9

Handicap Draw +1 @ 13/5

Republic of Ireland  v Hungary Weather Forecast

The weather is expected to be 12 degrees with no rain.

Republic of Ireland v Hungary Preview

Republic of Ireland's Form

It’s been a turbulent few months (arguably years) for the Republic of Ireland International team on and off the field. Despite Stephen Kenny’s last game being 6 months ago we’re none the wiser about who will be the next senior manager will be with respective candidates emerging quickly with every passing day before they seem to be inevitably ruled out of the conversation for one reason or another.

Thus, this June International Window with games against Hungary and Portugal gives Interim Manager John O’Shea a further chance to stake his claim to getting the main role ahead of huge Nations League Qualifiers against England and Greece this coming September. Who it ends up being remains to be seen with Willy Sagnol @ 5/2, John O’Shea @ 11/4 and Chris Hughton @ 11/2 the three favourites at the moment.

O’Shea remains steadfast and confident about not only his ability to take the role full-time but also his chances at landing it outright. Ahead of the March friendlies, he said that nobody influenced his selection goals with Jake O’Brien (Lyon) Sammie Szmodics (Blackburn) and Finn Azaz (Middlesbrough) all coming in they’ve all been retained for the June squad. The major new inclusion is star U21 performer Bosun Lawal in midfield who is one of the most talented players coming through now.

There remains a sense of safe selection with his squads though and with some talk of bringing McClean back to the fold, could O'Shea be too conservative for what most Irish fans want in the role? Time will only tell.

Republic of Ireland's Last Five Results

Republic of Ireland 0-1 Switzerland | March 26th | Loss

Republic of Ireland 0-0 Belgium | March 23rd | Draw

Republic of Ireland 1-0 New Zealand | November 21st | Draw

Netherlands 1-0 Republic of Ireland | November 18th | Loss

Gibraltar 0-4 Republic of Ireland | October 16th | Win

2 Losses, 2 Draws and 1 Win

Hungary’s Form

Ahead of this June Friendly, Hungary have been in strong form going unbeaten in 2023 and 2024 with 6 victories and 4 draws, which culminated in their qualification for Euro 2024 they topped Group G with an unbeaten run of form with 5 victories and 3 draws from their games against Serbia, Montenegro, Lithuania and Bulgaria with Serbia 4 points back in 2nd place. They scored 16 goals and conceded 7. Their most recent games were a 2-0 and 1-0 wins over Kosovo and Turkey in March

Hungary are another team that favours the 3-4-2-1 formation which they’ve almost exclusively used throughout both 2023 and 2024. They typically tend to have slightly less of the ball averaging 49.7% but are decent on the ball with a pass completion average of 80.8% with an average of 14.3 aerials won per match. This will be their first of two games before Euro 2024 with the second being a game against Israel on Saturday.

Hungary player for player aren’t too dissimilar to the Republic of Ireland in the player pool they’ve to choose from. However, the key to their relative “success” is the consistency of manager with Italian Marco Rossi in charge since 2018 (something our association could learn from about following a coherent plan).

Hungary’s Last Five Results

Hungary 2-0 Kosovo | March 26th | Win

Hungary 1-0 Turkey | March 22nd | Win

Hungary 3-1 Montenegro | November 19th | Win

Bulgaria 2-2 Hungary | November 16th | Draw

Hungary 2-2 Lithuania | October 17th| Draw

3 Wins and 2 Draws

Republic of Ireland v Hungary Predicted Lineups

Republic of Ireland Predicted Starting XI (3-5-2)

GK: Kelleher

RB: Coleman, CB: O’Shea, CB: O’Brien,  CB: Scales, LB: Brady

CM: Cullen, CM: Smallbone, CM: Azaz

CF: Idah, CF: Szmodics

Hungary  Predicted Starting XI(3-4-2-1)

GK: Gulácsi

RCB: Szalai, CB: Balogh, LCB: Lang

RM: Nego, CM: Schäfer, CM: Nagy, LM: Kerkez

AM: Sallai, AM: Szoboszlai

CF: Varga

Republic of Ireland v Hungary Head-To-Head Results & Stats

All-Time Head-To-Head Record

Republic of Ireland wins: 0

Hungary wins: 0

Draws: 2

Head-To-Head Results

Hungary 0-0 Republic of Ireland| Friendly | June 8th, 2021

Hungary 0-0 Republic of Ireland | Friendly | June 4th, 2012

Key Players To Watch

Sammie Szmodics -Republic of Ireland

Very much the man to watch on Tuesday Night (whether that be from the start or the bench) is Championship top-scorer Sammie Szmodics who had 27 goals and 4 assists for Blackburn and 33 goals and 4 assists in 48 games across all competitions.

Eligible for their opponents Hungary along with England there was speculation of another international tug of war until Sammie finally made his first 2 appearances for the Republic of Ireland in the last international window.

While Sammie is often confused with being a “midfielder” the reality is he plays very far forward for Blackburn in more of a “free role” attacking striker. However, he does ooze quality in what he does his 3.76 Progressive Passes, 8.08 Progressive Passes Received and 0.62 Non-Penalty Goals is in the 97th, 95th and 92nd percentile for all forwards.

As an Irishman, I’d love it if he scored his first International Goal on Tuesday.

Dominik Szoboszlai – Hungary

Liverpool Midfielder and Captain Dominik Szoboszlai will be their main man at Euro 2024 he will likely be positioned as one of the two AMs in front of the striker and will be tasked with being their main creative outlet. There other player to keep an eye on is Kerkez who will operate LWB/LM and his tenacity and endeavour in attack and defence will also be crucial.

Republic of Ireland v Hungary Prediction & Best Bet

Prediction: Republic of Ireland 1- 2 Hungary

It’s very difficult to know at what stage the Republic of Ireland are in their development plenty players came through under Stephen Kenny but a lot more will be needed if the National Team’s fortunes are going to be turned. The reality is if O’Shea is to be the man the association need to bite the bullet, back him give him a contract and get some coherence and stability before the England game.

Hungary are heading into this as second favourites, which is arguably surprising considering their strong form in recent years in contrast to the Republic of Ireland. I think they should be too tactically astute and further along their development than their opponents so I think they will claim a narrow victory.

Best Bet: Hungary Win 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1 @ 11/4

*Prices subject to fluctuation