Ian Callender

IT doesn't get much sweeter than this. Ireland defeated Holland yesterday by 11 runs to give themselves a chance of winning the European Championship for a second time. For captain Jason Molins, Andrew White, Dom Joyce, Kyle McCallan, Peter Davy and Paul Mooney it was sweet revenge for the ICC Trophy defeat in Toronto last summer when they lost by two runs and end their hopes of a place in the World Cup finals.

Holland went on to win the trophy and qualify for South Africa next year but with all but two of their likely World Cup squad in Northern Ireland this week they have now lost three of their four games. They will not be winning a third successive European Championship but Ireland still have the chance to emulate their 1996 success in Copenhagen, the only other time that Ireland have beaten the Dutch in the tournament. A good omen?

If Ireland win their final game against ECB England at The Lawn tomorrow then, at worst, they are assured of a three-way tie at the top with the tournament decided on run rate. Ireland, though, need England to beat Denmark at Limavady in today's delayed fourth round game and hope that Holland beat Scotland tomorrow because if England lose and Scotland win then an Ireland victory would leave them tied at top with the Scots who would win the championship because of their victory over Ireland on Sunday. It is complicated but the bottom line is that Ireland with three wins are sure to be in the shake up on the final day, although they currently have an inferior run rate to their two rivals.

A total of 193 for eight yesterday in a game delayed until 2.15 and reduced to 37 overs per side was a tremendous effort yet, with only 46 runs coming off the last 10 overs it should have been even better.

For much of the Dutch innings it looked as if they would need the extra runs because first Tim De Leede and then Jacob-Jan Esmeiyer tore into the Irish bowling, Ricky McDaid and McCallan suffering most, with White not far behind. It was not the day for slow bowlers.

But it would have been an injustice if Paul Mooney and Gary Neely had finished on the losing side after they, almost single-handedly, reduced Holland to 16 for five. It was superb pace bowling and ensured that Adrian McCoubrey, not fit enough to take his place, was not missed. Neely is almost taken for granted these days and, true to form, he had Klaas-Jan van Noortwijk brilliantly caught, low at square leg, by White and, in his next over, Luuk van Troost was leg before, pad-bat. At the other end, Paul Mooney was enjoying a golden day. With 26 runs already under his belt, he made the first two breakthroughs - his first wicket caught at long leg by Neely - and then he threw down the stumps from thirdman, nearly 70 away, with a direct hit which ran out helpless Henk Mol. If ever there was a champagne moment this season, that was it! Ireland were on fire at this stage and even the World Cup finalists had no answer. They have had consistently poor starts this week but this was on a different scale.

The Ireland support bowlers, as they did on Monday, struggled to maintain the pressure and partnerships of 39, 56 and an annoying 22 for the eighth wicket held up Ireland. It threatened to get downright dangerous when Adeel Raja and captain Roland Lefebvre added another 23 for the last wicket and started the last over needing 21 to win.

Paul Mooney had one over left but it was Derek Heasley, the one survivor from the European Championship final of 1996, who bowled it and although a four off the first ball heightened the tension, Deko kept his nerve and Ireland were home.

Atlhough Ireland had only one 50 partnership - for the sixth wicket - the batting was as impressive as it has been all week and the running even better.

Conor Armstrong was sent in as the pinch-hitter at the top of the innings and while it didn't work against accurate short of a length bowling - he faced 21 balls for nine - it allowed White and Molins to come together with 22 runs on the board. White continues to look more impressive than his captain although he enjoyed a large slice of luck when he was dropped at cover by van Troost, the dolliest of dolly catches.

However, immediately after Andrew was third out, to the off spinner, Raja, the big Dutchman made amends with a stunning reaction catch at square leg, flying to his right. The unlucky batsman was Peter Davy, who else this week. It was his second ball.

Dom Joyce was Reinout Scholte's second stumping victim but when he was out in the 22nd over, Ireland were already going along in excess of five runs an over. McCallan and Mooney, hitting the ball as cleanly as he has all season, kept up the momentum, until van Troost and opener Edgar Schiferli returned. Frustration, as much as anything, proved McCallan's downfall and Mooney was run out two balls later looking for a non-existent second.

Heasley didn't come off but McDaid and Niall O'Brien saw it through to the end with the wicket-keeper taking his batting average for his his first four games to 32. At the moment it is more impressive than his glove work but National Coach Adrian Birrell has got most judgements right so far, and the 20 year old Dubliner will be given plenty of time.

One bad day out of four is a pretty good European campaign. Will they finish in style or with a whimper?