Ireland's women cricketers to welcome fans on overdue return

What it means is that Ed Joyce’s team could be the first Irish representative sports team to play in front of spectators since Covid first darkened all our doors 15 months ago

Shauna Kavanagh: Looking forward to Ireland’s game against Scotland on Sunday. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

It’s been a week of long, envious glances into the neighbour’s back yard. Crowds at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge again. Almost 4,000 punters at the Brentford Community Stadium as Declan Kidney’s London Irish took on Exeter Chiefs.

Northern Ireland is set to follow suit as of Monday when 500 fans will be permitted at sporting events and, as luck would have it, Ireland’s women cricketers take on their Scottish counterparts in the second of a four-game T20 series in Stormont that very day.