Are Ireland back to their giant-killing ways of old, or was beating India a fluke?

"Sometimes, it feels like we play in the shadows of international cricket but we'll be front-page news after this."

Lorcan Tucker, Ireland's newly minted T20 captain, did as good a job as anyone at summing up the state of Irish cricket. For the team that formerly was everyone's second favourite, the last few years have presented a difficult period of fixture cuts, financial difficulty, and disappointing performances at ICC events.

The memories of the famous World Cup wins that launched the country into the sporting consciousness have faded. Since beating England at the MCG at the 2022 T20 World Cup, Ireland have won just once in eight attempts at a men's ICC event. On the women's side, they have qualified for just two World Cups since 2018.

Admiration abroad and relevance at home, where cricket competes with football, Gaelic football and hurling, rugby, and plenty more for eyeballs, has been in short supply. ICC Full membership brought elevated levels of funding but precious little success.

It was a grim picture that led to significant change. In the last 12 months, Cricket Ireland's two highest profile administrators left the organisation - former CEO Warren Deutrom and head of high-performance, Richard Holdsworth. A new boss arrived last March, Sarah Keane, who left her role as head of Swim Ireland - a body that had produced a number of Olympic medals - to take up a challenge in a sport she did not know.

Change has been promised across the board, but the new leadership has pleaded for patience. Bringing sustained success to Irish cricket, building on the upsets of the pre-Full Membership days will not be a quick fix. At times you wondered if the depth of the problems facing the sport were made clear to Keane.

Then Ireland went and beat India. Not once but twice. After injuries decimated the first choice XI, a new-look team achieved a monumental 2-0 win in Belfast. Sandwiched between those victories was much needed World Cup success, Ireland women securing a first win at the T20 global showpiece. It was the weekend of all weekends, a 72-hour period unlikely to be surpassed soon.

As the joy began to subside, the shock success led to one question. Was this all a mere fluke or a glimpse into the future, a sign of hefty organisational change starting to pay off on the pitch?

Or, to borrow an Irish post-Celtic-Tiger phrase, is the boom back?

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There is certainly a boom for Jai Moondra, the 29-year-old left-arm quick who debuted against India. His player-of-the-series performance, on the eve of the European T20 Premier League draft, has led to a €55,000 (about US$63,000) payday when he was picked up by Rotterdam Dockers. This time two weeks ago, he had no job and no Ireland contract.

Alongside Matthew Hollard, who also starred with the ball on debut, Moondra has become a symbol of a new, fresh Ireland. The pair only featured because of injuries to fast bowlers Mark Adair, Josh Little and Barry McCarthy. By tearing through one of the great teams of T20 cricket, have they shown that there is talent within the Irish system that deserves more trust?

"Our men's team hasn't had enough cricket, so you're not able to give your established players enough time to perform, and we haven't been able to give our emerging players enough opportunity," Keane said at a media round table following last weekend's success. "So that means we're not making the most of our talent - that's the bottom line."

While life can change quickly for individuals, the same won't be true for a larger organisation such as Cricket Ireland. There is less professional domestic cricket being played this year compared to last. The men's and women's competitions have cut one team apiece. This was with a view to ensure fewer players lacking international quality are involved, raising the standard and better preparing players for Ireland duty. It has done little to offer opportunities to emerging talent. Moondra's and Hollard's success was a joy to watch, but it's worth remembering they debuted in their late 20s. There are several players in the 19-23 age bracket without access to senior cricket.

Providing them opportunities will take time and money. Heading into the final year of this ICC funding cycle, Cricket Ireland will be boosted by approximately $17m flowing in, an increase from $13m last year. However, there are fears that ICC revenues in the next four-year cycle will stagnate, or even fall, as broadcast rights are expected to dip.

Which leaves CI looking to box clever. Some male players have taken it upon themselves to find opportunities in England: Irish players have lined up for Durham University, Yorkshire U18s and Worcestershire 2nd XI in recent years. On the women's side, CI is exploring ways of getting emerging players club and minor county opportunities.

There is a long-standing frustration within Irish cricket at what is perceived as the ECB's lack of support for their neighbour. There are still hopes of getting Irish players back in county cricket as locals, as opposed to them taking up overseas slots. Particularly when plenty hold UK passports, most by virtue of being from Northern Ireland. Cricket in Ireland is an all-island sport, taking players from two political jurisdictions: those born in Northern Ireland are entitled to UK and Irish passports, while those born in the Republic of Ireland hold only Irish citizenship.

It's not the ECB's job to develop Irish cricket, but there are those who are happy to contrast England's ability to be good global citizens with that of the BCCI, who just financially propped up Ireland's summer with a pair of T20Is that were not on the Future Tours Programme.

Giving Irish players access to county cricket again would certainly be one inexpensive way of getting them more time in the middle. As would the Euro Nations Cup, a cricket equivalent of rugby's Six Nations, which may well start next summer. There was a plan for the MCC to host it, in a bid to support financially poor European nations, though its feasibility remains to be seen.

There are also agreements in place to play regularly against Nepal, while hope remains high that more teams can be convinced to stop off in Dublin or Belfast on the way to touring England. Especially since the success against India has given credence to the idea that Ireland might be able to offer decent preparation.

"I think myself and Brian [MacNeice, Cricket Ireland's chairman] going into the ICC conference [for the body's AGM in Edinburgh], I feel like we have stronger political capital," said Keane. "I think we have to thank our teams, we're going to be going into those conversations with our heads up a bit higher as a result of the fact that we have done something special."

If the short-to-medium-term playing schedule requires a dose of outside help, in theory the longer-term issues are more within CI's control. For all the clever solutions, the best way of finding affordable cricket is looking at infrastructure. Getting a stadium that someone else pays for has long been the strategy.

It has finally paid off. In June, the first sod was turned on a stadium in Abbotstown, North Dublin, to be built on government land. The plan is to have it ready to host England in the late summer of 2029. It remains to be seen if CI has to contribute financially to the government's plans, or indeed, pay rent to use the facility.

Just before the India series, Northern Ireland politicians announced a £7.6 million (about $10.1m) funding package to redevelop Stormont in Belfast, while a further nearly £3 million is coming from the Republic of Ireland government. (CI is contributing £1m of its own money). Schmoozing elected officials at matches in the north has had the desired effect.

To an extent, the India games were a warm-up for co-hosting the 2030 T20 World Cup. CI wants India to return in 2028, but depending on where those games are played, or even if they happen at all, last week's events might have been the biggest to be held at Stormont.

Which left everyone a touch on edge. When Indian journalists publicly reported issues with sightscreens during their team's practice session, CI were not happy. The crux of their response was that it was unfair to criticise when much better facilities are coming soon.

It is a curious, if understandable, strategy. For all the promise, there will be countless issues in the short term. To add to the general lack of cricket, matches that are being played are not promoted. No domestic matches are being broadcast by CI; the mantle instead is being taken up by grassroots clubs that are hosting games. The sport still struggles for visibility - local press coverage did not quite give the prominence it should have to the India victories.

Add to this the departure of multiple staff members in recent months. CI has acknowledged spending too much money on salaries to justify the low volume of cricket. While changing the shape of the company will save money in the long term, CI spent over £200,000 (about $267,000) on employee restructuring in 2025. More changes are anticipated.

To an extent, beating India in bowler-friendly conditions, to which the visitors were not accustomed, was a one-off. Yet it was still a useful tool - a yardstick against which to measure future success, all while buying the new regime some goodwill as they seek to not only return Irish cricket to its giant-killing status, but to bring the country out of the cricketing shadows.

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