For Ireland this was the greatest victory in their cricketing history; for England, who had triumphed in the Ashes only seven weeks ago, it was their greatest ignominy.
England expect Ireland to prevail now and again at Lansdowne Road, the home of Irish rugby, but not in Bengaluru, India, and not in a tournament like cricket's World Cup. Yesterday a stunned crowd, comprising a few ecstatic Irish supporters, a few more stunned, bewildered Englishmen, and several thousand locals, who had quickly become Irish for the day, left the stadium to the refrains of the Irish sporting anthem Ireland's Call, which was cannily played over the PA system.
Ireland defeated their old enemy in an epic contest, which seemed utterly beyond the realms of possibility when they were halfway through their innings. They had 111 runs at the time, and had lost five wickets. England had posted a huge total of 328.
But then on came Kevin O'Brien, a burly middle-order batsman, his hair dyed pink for the game to promote an Irish cancer charity. The 26-year-old former electrician struck a brilliant, brutal 113 from 63 balls to transform a match which seemed destined to be a drab English victory. Six times he cleared the boundary with an easy, uncomplicated swing of the bat as he played the innings of his, or anyone else's, lifetime.
In the process of setting up this sensational victory he struck the fastest century in World Cup history – it took him only 50 balls – and then possessed the wherewithal to hold himself in check with victory in sight.
He was finally run out. But his team only needed 11 runs from 11 balls by then. The damage had been done and the only remaining concern for the Irish team and their families and supporters was where to find a celebration drink or two after midnight.
Afterwards O'Brien was not sure how he had done it. "It's the best I've ever played. Everything just came off," he said. "I had a bit of luck and just kept going." He will have to get a tape of those highlights to find out precisely how he did it and rue the fact that it coincided with the day his hair was a very dodgy pink.
Andrew Strauss, England's captain, was not much wiser. "That was bitterly disappointing," he said. "It was a great performance by Ireland; they thoroughly deserved their victory. We did not reckon on such an outstanding innings. That was pretty brutal hitting. We will just have to go away and lick our wounds."
This was a group match, so England live to fight another day, but their World Cup campaign has received a significant setback. William Porterfield, the Irish captain, out first ball, simply declared: "This is the greatest day of our lives."
In Dublin reaction was ecstatic among the small but dedicated community of cricket followers. The Republic's newly elected prime minister was quick to jump on the bandwagon.
Enda Kenny, Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach elect, said: "Ireland's victory marks one of the finest days in Irish sport and my warmest congratulations go out to each and every member of the squad after this historic win. Their supreme effort will lift the spirits of every single Irish person, no matter where they are in the world.
At Balbriggan cricket club in north Dublin they were toasting their hero John Mooney, who scored the winning runs. Albert Harper, the club secretary, predicted "mayhem tonight".
"It means so much to us here that it was John that scored the winning runs against the English. I first saw John when he was 14 and 15 hitting incredible backsweep shots like an international test cricketer. Even then we knew at the club he was someone special."
Ireland have ambitions to step up to full membership of the International Cricket Council and join the elite nations who play Test cricket. This victory will help their cause immensely.
On Sunday there is the small matter of playing India – Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag et al – in front of 40,000 home supporters. After defeating England, this side will probably muster sufficient optimism to think another upset is possible.
Great English defeats
1950 Football
USA 1-0 England
England turned up to the World Cup in Brazil among the favourites, the Americans were just happy to be there. The English had Sir Stanley Matthews, one of the best players in the world, the Americans had a hearse driver called Frank Borghi. USA pulled off a shock though, such a shock in fact that some newspapers thought the scoreline was an error and corrected it to a 10-0 England victory.
1992 Cricket
Zimbabwe beat England by nine runs
In the 1992 World Cup England were skittled out for just 125, chasing a paltry 135 to win. Zimbabwe's hero was chicken farmer Eddo Brandes, who took four wickets for just 21 runs. Brandes didn't stop there either. He was back a few years later to take a hat-trick as the Zimbaweans beat England again.
1998 Rugby union
Australia 76-0 England
England started off their tour of Australia with some experienced players missing and five new caps. No matter, they prevented the hosts from scoring a point for the first 15 minutes. Just over an hour later, they had suffered their biggest ever defeat. A 19-year-old Jonny Wilkinson, who missed two easy penalties. He'd go on to a bit of success though.
2000 Tennis
Great Britain 2-3 Ecuador
OK, so this was a technically a defeat for Britain but the abject capitulation was typically English. After years in the doldrums, Britain had a strong side that included Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman. But defeats for Rusedski, and Henman and Arvind Parmar in the doubles left the latter needing to win the final rubber. Parmar had a two set lead but still managed to lose in five to 17-year-old Giovanni Lapentti.
2009 Cricket
Netherlands beat England by four wickets
Not only could England boast far more experience than their opponents, they were also the hosts for the tournament, the World Twenty20. No matter, Netherlands won off the last ball at Lord's, the home of English cricket. The result seemed to spur England on though, they won the Ashes later that year and won the World Twenty20 a year later.
2010 Fifa World Cup bid
Russia 1-0 England
England had already lost an earlier bid for the 2006 World Cup but there would be no mistakes this time as they deployed a dream strike force of David Cameron, Prince William and David Beckham. England schmoozed for all they were worth but the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, announced Russia would host the 2018 World Cup. Many observers spotted a twinkle in Blatter's eye: the BBC had accused Fifa of corruption in the run-up to the vote.
