"Mamood to Johnston and he has cleared the boundary, its a six and the Irish captain leaps around the ground like a leprechaun."
That was Alison Mitchell on BBC TMS as Ireland beat Pakistan on one of the momentous recent days in Irish sport.
I began to follow the fortunes of the Irish men's cricket team in 2005 when the World Cup qualifying competition was held in Ireland, North and South, with Ireland, Scotland, Bermuda, Canada and The Netherlands qualifying.
Ireland's biggest win of the qualifiers was at Stormont where they beat the UAE in a tension-filled game, with one ball to spare thanks to an unbeaten 115 from Ed Joyce.
The next two years saw Ireland, led by their South African coach Adrian 'Adi’ Birrell, build up to the finals, while I hatched a plan to get to the West Indies myself as there was the chance of a commentary gig with the BBC's legendary Test Match Special (TMS) in the offing.
Eventually RTÉ Radio Sport boss Roy Willoughby was persuaded by my arguments and what was due to be a two-week sojourn to Jamaica, turned into a two-month marathon as the team took us on a never-to-be-forgotten journey.
It began on 15 March at Sabina Park in Kingston, where Ireland, heading for defeat to Zimbabwe, pulled it out of the fire and tied the game, one point a piece. This was also my first commentary with TMS - a great start and then on to St Patricks Day and the game against Pakistan, ranked fourth in the world.
Throughout the day I reported for Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio One, but as the day progressed it was clear that we were witnessing something special and I got an urgent call from BBC producer Peter Baxter to join Alison Mitchell in the TMS commentary box as England had wrapped up their game early that day, with the game at Sabina Park still ongoing.
Chasing a modest total of 133 for victory, Ireland, roared on by the Irish fans in the party stand, stuttered in reply.
But helped by a 72 from wicket keeper Niall O’Brien, Ireland steadied and when captain Trent Johnston hammered a six off bowler Azar Mahmood in the 42nd over, the celebrations began as Ireland qualified for the second round of the competition, the Super 8s, and in doing so knocked Pakistan out of the World Cup.
What followed turned us from sports reporters into crime journalists as Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer collapsed and died in his hotel room and the Jamaican Police treated it as a "suspected murder".
Three months after his death, police changed their opinion, stating they believed Woolmer had died of natural causes.
In November of that year, the jury at his inquest returned an open verdict.
However, give the tragic and sensational news, the workload suddenly increased for the small crop of Irish journalists on the island, so much so that I ended up in hospital myself, exhausted as we were staying three hours away from Kingston.
Ireland lost heavily to the hosts The West Indies in their third group match at Sabina Park, and it came as some relief to everyone that we moved on to Guyana for the Super 8 games against New Zealand, England and South Africa and by now TMS had decided to cover all of Ireland's games for radio, with myself in the commentary box, and Sky TV also showcased Ireland’s exploits.
Ireland’s largely amateur side lost all three games in Georgetown but let England off the hook and after that tie, I had a run in with Trent Johnston who took exception to some of my line of questioning.
As I was also staying at the team hotel, let’s say it was a little tense
After Guyana, it was on to Barbados, with the Aussies hammering Ireland ahead of the game against Bangladesh.
By now fatigue had set in for everyone involved on this ever-evolving trip, but the squad lifted themselves one last time to win their second game of the tournament and with it gain all important ICC One Day International status.
The final match saw just three Irish reporters, Paul Davey, who made the Breaking Boundaries documentary, RTE’s Ed Leahy and myself land on the paradise island of Grenada where Muttiah Muralitharan, the legendary Sri Lankan spin bowler, put a spent Irish XI to the sword.
Suddenly it was all over, Birrell stepped down as Irish coach and couldn’t face the squad to tell them as a group so he penned a letter to the 15 players and squad members.
By all accounts, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
Irish cricket was now on the map.
Most people in Ireland didn’t even know we had a team prior to the 2007 finals and they have given us some of the greatest Irish sporting memories since, such as the win over England in the 2011 finals in India and their most comprehensive win to date, overcoming the West Indies in the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Ireland have now become a Test playing nation since then and the tests against Pakistan in Dublin in 2018 and the Lords test against England last year will never be forgotten by those who were there to witness it all.
