First off, an apology. We're sorry to keep putting you through that - sorry to our friends, family, supporters and coach because, as we've heard a few times, watching Ireland in the World Cup should come with a health warning.

After cutting it fine against the UAE, our coach Phil Simmons said he was getting too old for those sort of games. But us being us, we managed to make this win even more nerve-wracking.

We won it, lost it, got ourselves back into it, nearly lost it again and then won it. Ultimately, when the heart rate gets back to normal and everyone calms down, the last three words of the previous sentence are all that matters.

I'd know a few of the Zimbabwean players and their coach Dav Whatmore so I went over to their dressing room after the match with a couple of beers and we chatted for an hour about the game. Taylor and Williams were superb and, just as we would have been, were gutted to lose the match but they were gracious in defeat.

They might have felt the need for a Steward's Enquiry about John Mooney's catch which was probably the turning point. First and foremost, it was a superb catch to keep himself inside the rope. Another inch and it was a certain six but he felt he caught it.

From what I've been told, Pepsi might owe us a few quid for the number of times their logo was shown next to John's foot but there really didn't seem to be anything conclusive to say it certainly wasn't a catch and once Williams left the field, there was no going back.

At that point, we thought we were almost there but, as we keep saying after every win, we don't make it easy for ourselves.

We had a couple of run out chances and I managed to make a mess of one when I kicked it past the stumps for two overthrows.

I had trials with Rangers as a kid and consider myself a decent footballer so when the ball dropped on my left-foot - my good one - my first thought was kicking onto the stumps. Anyone watching from Rangers will probably think they didn't miss out on too much.

When you miss a chance like that, it stays with you as the opposition's target is getting closer. You just hope that it doesn't haunt you and maybe you can have a laugh about it afterwards.

Sure enough, as we were walking off the pitch, Ed Joyce just said “good boot” to me and I burst out laughing and the first text I got when I turned on my phone reckoned there wouldn't be too many Premier League clubs waiting for me when I got home. I was gutted about it, but it's much easier to laugh about it after a win.

It took Alex Cusack's skill and coolness to get us over the line and, in a game when nearly 660 runs were scored, to come out of it with figures of 4-32 in nearly ten overs is a phenomenal effort. He probably should have won man of the match but once the win was secured, it won't bother him too much.

Joyce played beautifully with Andy Balbirnie to get us up to our record ODI total and we needed every one of those runs.

Between getting caught in a player's armpit in the last game and batting at number eight in this one it's been a strange couple of games for me personally. The decision was made that I would drop down the order because the off-spinner was bowling at the timeand it was felt it'd be better for a right-hander to go in at that stage.

I was obviously disappointed because I went in with a good average and strike-rate but you respect the decision of the coach even thought you mightn't particularly like it. All you want to do is contribute to the team and I felt I didn't really in this one but, with two games left, there'll be other chances, starting against India in the early hours of Tuesday, Irish time.

My contribution to the post-match singing in the dressing room and coach was similarly limited but that's mostly because it's hard to get a word in edgeways!

We had a few of the usual classics followed by Max Sorensen belting out ‘A Roo Cha Cha' and Peter Chase going start to finish with ‘Rattling Bog'. It wasn't easy and it never is but any day that ends with a World Cup win and a sing-song, is a good day.