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O'Brien, centre, with John Mooney and Max Sorensen in "Fortress Malahide." ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
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Kevin O'Brien: England giant-killing 'changed my destiny'

Ireland meet England on Tuesday with a complete sell-out expected in Fortress Malahide.

KEVIN O’BRIEN CREDITS his historic World Cup innings against England as the moment that changed his cricketing destiny.

The countries meet again on Tuesday for a one-day international in Ireland’s new international ground which has been dubbed “Fortress Malahide.”

An expected crowd of over 10,000 fans will be hoping that Ireland can produce another shock to match their unforgettable win at the 2011 Cricket World Cup in Bangalore.

O’Brien was the hero that day, posting the fastest century in World Cup history as Ireland chased down a massive target of 327 and won by three wickets.

“There’s no doubt that innings changed my destiny,” O’Brien said.

“All of a sudden myself and Irish cricket were on the front as well as the back pages of newspapers and media the world over.

It was a defining moment in Irish cricket which changed the perception of the sport here and raised the profile to new heights.

I’ve played now in T20 competitions in England, Bangladesh and the West Indies, so it certainly opened up new avenues for me.

England have rested the majority of their Ashes side for Tuesday’s game but the visitors’ 14-man squad contains two very familiar faces: Dublin’s Eoin Morgan, who captains the side, and former Ireland international Boyd Rankin.

Their involvement adds an extra bit of spice but O’Brien knows that a win is vital if Ireland are to continue to make progress on the world stage.

“We’ve got to keep on winning if we want to achieve full member status. We can’t live on past glories — we owe the fans a special performance and another famous win.”

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