Irish cricketers arrive home

Cricket:The first family of Irish cricket were out in force today for the return of the homecoming heroes from their extraordinary World Cup adventure.

The latest addition to the O'Brien family was born the day brothers Niall and Kevin O'Brien flew out to India seven weeks ago. Like his famous uncle Kevin, Riain O'Brien has red hair. Born to Conor O'Brien and his wife, Orla, his uncle had only ever seen him on Skype.

Compared to the maelstrom of being the centre of attention in a cricket-mad sub-continent, the O'Brien brothers along with the rest of the team arrived back to a low-key welcome at Dublin airport and a reception afterwards at the Radisson Blu.

Kevin O'Brien managed to scoop him up his little nephew in the same arms that had laid waste to the England bowling attack in Bangalore earlier this month.

A smattering of friends and family were there to great the team. They included the O'Brien brothers' parents, Brendan, a former Irish international cricketer himself, and Camilla O'Brien.

They 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 Taj Mahal, everybody was going, 'you're the O'Brien parents'. I think they are being lined up for a Bollywood film," joked Niall the older of the two brothers.

His achievements of being the top Irish batsman in the World Cup was eclipsed slightly by his brother's once-in-a-lifetime innings of 113 off just 63 balls against England, the fastest century in World Cup cricket history.

Being cocooned away from family and friends 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 maybe stuck in jobs they don't want to be doing so it gave them a great lift," said Niall. At least they have jobs.

Kevin O'Brien had 124 requests for interviews and 402 e-mails on the morning after the England match. The hero of the hour was looking forward yesterday to sleeping in his own bed, not thinking about cricket for a few weeks and then dusting down his CV for a tilt at the English county championship or the Indian Premier League next year.

"I got a lot of text and Facebook messages after the match. Mum and Dad and Ciara, my sister, kept all the cuttings from the paper. We have got to shovel through them, and then it will only sink in then how much we as a team touched the nation. Hopefully something that we can repeat during the summer," he said. Ireland play England in the RSA Challenge in Clontarf on August 25th.

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 and took four wickets into the bargain.

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 at home and abroad. 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 six out of 10.

Ireland now face their biggest challenge to date 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 (ICC), want to reduce the number of teams competing to just the full ten ICC members, though on current form Ireland would still make the tournament.