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Now the dust has settled and the players have returned home, we are taking a look at Ireland’s world cup journey, starting with the reaction to Ireland’s first match, the victory over the West Indies.
After months of acclimatisation tours and warm up matches, the World Cup finally got under way for Ireland when they took on the West Indies in Nelson overnight on 15/16th February.

The time difference meant the game started at 10pm Irish time, but that didn’t stop a huge number of fans from tuning in to the start of the game, with many enticed to stay up later and later by Ireland’s performance.

After a couple of hours, just when people should have been heading to bed ready for a Monday morning at work, Ireland had the West Indies on the ropes at 87-5, with seemingly half the country still up and following the game.

Whilst many at home slipped away for a couple of hours sleep before work, the Blarney Army out in Nelson didn’t miss a moment, with Larry the Leprechaun there rallying the troops and leading the support.

In his mind, the fans at home were awake for the most important part of the game for Ireland anyway “No doubt the overcast conditions helped in the first hour and despite the late onslaught by Sammy and Simmons, the first 25 overs in the field won it for the Irish.”

That late onslaught from Lendl Simmons and Darren Sammy saw the West Indies set a target of 305 for Ireland, no mean feat considering only four times in World Cup history had a score of 300+ been chased down successfully.

What is missing from that stat though, is that on two of those occasions, Ireland were doing the chasing.

As the nation awoke back home in Ireland Paul Stirling had already made a magnificent 92 from just 84 balls and Ireland were well on the way to victory.

Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien blasted their way through the middle overs setting up the victory, with Joyce scoring 84 from 67 balls and O’Brien 79 from 60.

Some nervous batting at the end saw a couple of wickets fall, but by then the game was in the bag, and Ireland came out victorious with four overs and six wickets to spare, sending the Blarney Army into celebration mode! As many pointed out, the Irish were at it again with another win over a test playing nation at a world cup, and once again Ireland won more than just the match, they won a whole host of new fans on the way.

You can see highlights of the match and listen to post match interviews below, as well as the final scorecard, photos and further reaction by using the following links.
Final Scorecard
William Porterfield Reaction
Match Photos

Post Match Interviews:

Yes
Connaught