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The Minster for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross, TD, and the Minister with responsibility for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin, TD, today paid tribute to the Ireland cricket team upon completion of their first ever test match against Pakistan in Malahide, Co. Dublin.

After years of campaigning to be allowed compete in top tier international cricket, the Irish team were given the green light to perform at this level in 2017. This week marked their inaugural appearance in a full test.

Pakistan won the test by five wickets after the series concluded this afternoon. Test matches are the highest level of the cricket structure. India took twenty years at test level to record its first victory while New Zealand required 26 years competing at that level to record their first win.

The Ministers paid tribute to the impressive performance put in by the Irish over the five-day series as the side coached by Graham Ford and captained by William Porterfield came close to upsetting their world number seven ranked opposition before eventually succumbing to a final day Pakistan rally.

Ireland has made great strides in the cricket world since becoming an associate member of the ICC in 1993 and progressing to One Day International status in 2007. They competed at the Cricket World Cup in 2007, 2011 and 2015 and have played in the World Twenty20 tournament five times.

Minister Ross said:

I believe all involved in Cricket Ireland should be rightly proud of the performance they put in this week. They’ve waited a long time for this opportunity and gave Irish sports fans a glimpse of what their potential is. I would like to offer my congratulations to Kevin O’Brien on recording Ireland’s first ever test match century in a memorable second innings. I wish the team well as they look to build on this historic occasion. I would also like to pay tribute to Ed Joyce for his contribution to raising the bar for Irish cricketers over the years and it was fantastic for him to perform in the first ever test match for this country.

Minister Griffin added his support for Porterfield and the rest of the Irish squad:

The Irish cricket team has shown in recent years that it has the ambition to compete against the best nations in the world and that desire to bring excellence to their sport is a value all Irish sports can aspire to emulate. They may not have won on the first occasion but I’ve no doubt that the Irish players will not limit their ambitions to just being on the big stage. A huge amount of planning has gone into making this visit of Pakistan to Malahide a success, and I was delighted to be present today, so congratulations to all involved in hosting this test match.