Ireland captain Trent Johnston believes his side can call themselves the top Associate nation in both the long and short forms of the game after outclassing Canada to retain the Intercontinental Cup.
Phil Simmons' team stormed to victory by an innings and 115 runs inside two days of the scheduled four-day final at Grace Road, a success which comes hot on the heels of their impressive showing in one-dayers at the World Cup.
Advancing to the Super Eight stage in the Caribbean helped the Irish become the top-ranked Associate in one-day internationals, and Johnston believes they can now lay claim to being the best non-Test-playing nation over four days as well.
He said: 'I'd like to think we are top of the four-day stuff now, obviously defending our trophy.
'We probably should have won it the first time it was played, unfortunately we were put in on a green wicket and we lost against Scotland (in 2004). That was disappointing, but we've won it twice in a row now and I think we were pretty convincing winners here so I'm very proud of the guys.'
Johnston could hardly find fault with his side's display in the final, reflecting on a near-perfect two days in the sunshine in Leicester.
'We won the toss, put the ball in pretty good areas, held our catches and then Brayso (Jeremy Bray) and Porty (William Porterfield) went out and did a magnificent job and put that (202-run) partnership on which really set the foundations for us,' said the skipper.
'Eoin Morgan batted fantastically well on a bowler-friendly wicket.'
Johnston admitted Umar Bhatti's four wickets in five balls - including a hat-trick of lbw decisions - which ripped apart Ireland's middle order in the first session on Wednesday, actually helped his side bring the match to its premature conclusion.
'I've probably never been so happy now about an opposition player getting a hat-trick because we probably would still be batting at the moment if we hadn't lost those wickets!' he said.
'We went out there and bowled pretty well in the second innings, even though they got a few runs, probably 40 or 50 more than what we wanted. But at the end of the day we've retained the trophy and we're very happy.'
Johnston was particularly delighted with the fact everyone played their part in the superb win.
He said: 'Thinus (Fourie) bowled well in the first innings, getting three crucial wickets, Kevvy (O'Brien) got a couple as well and I got a few. And David (Langford-Smith) started us off - obviously it was a huge wicket getting John Davison out first over.
'It was just a great all-round team performance, and that's what we've banked on over the last two or three years for our success - everyone's contributing.'
The fixtures keep on coming for Ireland, with one-day matches against Surrey and Sussex next up and Johnston wants whoever takes the field for the Irish to build on the Intercontinental Cup triumph.
'It's been tough, obviously we've lost a few guys to counties and a few guys to injuries, a few guys are tired... but it gives other guys coming into the squad an opportunity,' he said.
'It's great to get back on the winning way and hopefully we can make a good account of ourselves on Sunday against Surrey and Monday against Sussex.'
New coach Simmons was happy to get a win under his belt in his biggest match since taking over the reins from Adrian Birrell after the World Cup, and is now looking to the next phase in Ireland's development.
'I personally hope things get to the stage where we get to be able to keep our players because we lost two of our main players (Niall O'Brien and Boyd Rankin),' said the former West Indies all-rounder.
'It would be nice to be able to keep them and in order to do that we need to have more money coming in and just take things to the professional level. To me that's the next step.'
