Erin go breà

So I got taken to task today for not having mentioned Ireland at all in this blog (and rightly so - I've not paid them as much attention as I did others, though if it makes my Irish friend feels any better, I also haven't mentioned Scotland other than in passing). In any case, I came home today to catch the replay of their last game against Sri Lanka, which of course, didn't end in particularly good fashion for them. But they've done enough in this tourney to show they are a handful, for as rightly pointed out, it takes the absolute best to blow them away. The Irish have Boyd Rankin, who could be a problem for just about anybody in the right conditions, and they had tons of pluck and gumption. It didn't hurt that they had some very colorful (read "attired in green leprechaun costumes") fans in the stands. But I'm curious about one thing (and this is for all those Irish nationalists out there) why is Niall O'Brien so keen to play for England? Is the lure of playing against ICC regulars so intense that it lets an Irishman dream of playing for, gasp, England? I'm only half-serious but the half that is serious is actually, truthfully, curious. And how can you not like a team that gives you not one, but two, new celebrations (the Chicken and the Jig) for wicket-taking? Thanks very much for that, Trent Johnston and David Langford-Smith. Ireland's team will have, at the very least, not just delighted their fans and made them dream of the impossible, but provided a great deal of cheer to those that delight in the perennial drama that the underdog continues to provide.