By Kevin Smith
DUBLIN, March 18 - Ireland's shock victory over
Pakistan in the World Cup was greeted with delight and amazement
back home where until recently many were unaware the country
even had a cricket team.
The three-wicket victory at Sabina Park on Saturday, with
rank outsider Ireland scoring 133-7, was one of the biggest
upsets in international cricketing history and all the sweeter
for the Irish for coming on St. Patrick's Day, the country's
national holiday.
"It was simply the finest day Irish cricket had ever seen,"
the Sunday Independent said, adding it outstripped even the
occasion in 1969 when Ireland bowled the West Indies out for 25.
The Irish version of Britain's Sunday Times said the Irish
now had a genuine chance of making the Super Eights, where they
could come up against the likes of Australia, South Africa and
England.
However, the newspaper noted the first task for many of the
Irish team would be getting time off work as most were amateurs
with jobs as postmen, electricians, teachers and delivery
drivers.
While it has been played in Ireland for centuries, cricket
has been a minority interest since the country's independence
from Britain in 1921, with many nationalists dismissing it as a
colonial hangover.
This weekend, however, the names of Niall O'Brien, who
scored 72, and captain Trent Johnston were spoken with pride
across the national airwaves.
The 1,000-plus Irish fans -- dubbed "the Blarney Army" by
Irish media -- who cheered the team to victory watched the match
unfold with growing disbelief, the Sunday Independent said.
"Ireland were just brilliant ... Bring on the West Indies,"
it quoted one jubilant supporter as saying.
The triumph in Jamaica was given added prominence by its
taking some of the sting out of the Irish rugby team's failure
to grab their first Six Nations crown since 1985, with France
pipping them to the title on Saturday.