Irish cricket heroes return after pushing out boundaries at World Cup

THE FIRST family of Irish cricket was out in force yesterday for the return of the heroes from their World Cup adventure.

Compared to the maelstrom of being the centre of attention in the cricket-mad sub-continent, the Irish team arrived back to a low-key welcome at Dublin airport.

Among those waiting was the latest addition to the O’Brien family. Riain O’Brien was born the day brothers Niall and Kevin O’Brien flew out to India seven weeks ago.

Like his now-famous uncle Kevin, Riain has red hair. Kevin managed to scoop him up in the same arms that had laid waste to the England bowling attack in Bangalore. The O’Brien brothers’ parents Brendan and Camilla were feted as minor celebrities by the Indian cricketing public after the team beat England. “When my mum and dad went out shopping or to the Taj Mahal, everybody was pointing out that they were our parents,” said Niall, the older of the two brothers.

Despite being the top Irish batsman in the world cup, his achievement was eclipsed by his brother’s once-in-a-lifetime innings of 113 off just 63 balls against England, the fastest century in World Cup history.

Being cocooned away for the duration of the World Cup, the magnitude of that victory will only become apparent now they are back on home soil. “A lot of friends of mine at home are stuck in jobs they don’t want to be doing so it gave them a great lift,” said Niall. Kevin O’Brien had 124 requests for interviews and received 402 e-mails on the morning after the England match. The hero of Bangalore was looking forward yesterday to sleeping in his own bed and not thinking about cricket for a few weeks.

“I got a lot of text and Facebook messages. Mum and dad and Ciara my sister kept all the cuttings from the paper,” he said.

“We have got to shovel through them and only then will it sink in how much we as a team touched the nation. Hopefully it is something that we can repeat during the summer.”

Ireland play England in the RSA Challenge in Clontarf on August 25th, the first time the two teams have ever met in Dublin.

Also at Dublin airport were John Mooney’s fiancée Helena Grant and their eight-year-old daughter Alicia. She had a big hug for her daddy who scored the winning runs against England.

Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom said the team’s record of two wins out of six did not tell the story of how well they had competed or the impact they had made on the cricketing public in India.

He said the victory over England had the potential to be “the pivotal moment in Irish cricket”. Coach Phil Simmons said they could have done even better and scored the team’s efforts at six out of 10.

The team now face their biggest challenge with the possibility that they will not be able to compete in the next World Cup. The sport’s governing body, the International Cricket Council, want to reduce the number of teams competing to just 10.