On Tuesday night, they beat the world Champions England by seven wickets at the Aegis Bowl in Southampton in their third ODI, chasing down a score of 328 to do so. They lost the series 2-1 but can still take enormous credit and heart from what they achieved in this match. Not to mention the points for the 2023 World Cup qualification.
To put this into context, this was not a full strength England side, Many of the team who lifted the World Cup a year ago the likes of Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, and Jofra Archer were missing because they are preparing for the upcoming test series against Pakistan.
But they still featured a number of international players, including captain Eoin Morgan, who starred for the bat with his side, scoring 106, including 4 sixes and 15 fours, and putting on 146 for the fourth wicket with Tom Banton.
They had helped England recover from a poor start which saw them reduced first to 14-2, and then 44-3.
Banton made 58, and there was also a half-century for David Willey, whilst Tom Curran finished on 38 not out, and, although the England side were bowled out for 328 off the penultimate ball of the innings, they still felt they had more than enough to defeat the Irish.
That though was reckoning without Paul Stirling and captain Andrew Balbirnie. After Gareth Delaney was bowled by Willey at the end of the ninth over, they put on 214 for the second wicket in less than 33 overs. The pair batted smartly, hitting the bad ball to the boundary, and rotating the strike to keep the scoreboard moving.
Stirling was finally run out for 142, having struck 6 sixes and 9 fours, whilst Balbirnie fell shortly afterwards for 113, his innings featuring 13 fours.
That still left Ireland needing 50 to win, but Harry Tector and Kevin OBrien kept their nerve and kept adding runs, so that they began the last over with eight still needed, reaching their target with one ball to spare.
It was the highest ever successful run chase by Ireland in ODIs, and, just as valuably, earned them 10 points towards qualification for the 2023 World Cup.