AS IRELAND'S cricketers walked through �ras an Uachtar�in last week, they should have given thanks to one of the previous occupants of the house. Not one of the great patrons of the game in the 19th century, but Mary McAleese's predecessor and her celebrated turn of phrase.

For one crucial factor in assembling this squad was the legendary charms of Mn� na hEireann. Three men in particular travelled halfway around the world in pursuit of the woman of their dreams, only to find that Ireland could provide them with further opportunities to live out their fantasies and play at cricket's biggest showcase event.

The three New South Welshmen - all-rounder and captain Trent Johnston, opening bat Jeremy Bray and opening bowler David Langford-Smith - form a crucial triumvirate in the team that takes on Zimbabwe on Thursday week in the first game of Ireland's World Cup campaign.

Growing up, Ireland meant very little to them. "Guinness" was all Bray knew, "Leprechauns" was the limit of Langford-Smith's knowledge, while Johnston was a little bit better informed thanks to his Quilter family relations.

The all-rounder The gap year is an Australian rite of passage, often spent in Europe, and Johnston was the first to make the trip from Woollonga. He spent the summer of 1993 as a pro in the Hornsey club in north London, but it wasn't much fun.

"I never really liked the way they play cricket over there, " he recalled, "there were three guys on the team who never spoke to me all season just because I was an Aussie. That was hard for a 19-year-old."

Back home he completed his trade as a boilermaker before bumping into a Dubliner called Michael John Solomons. 'MJ' was on the look-out for talent to coach and play for Carlisle CC in Kimmage, and he didn't need to see much to offer 'TJ' a deal. "I had to look up the atlas to see where Dublin and Belfast were before I told my mum 'I'm off to Ireland for six months'."

He soon fell in love with Dublin. "Brian Stein picked me up from the airport and we met up with a dozen guys ready to show me a night on the town. I was totally whacked but? it was great."

He returned for another two seasons with Carlisle but the club folded in 1998 due to the decline in the Jewish community that provided most of the membership. He played the following season with Leinster - where he had met Vanessa - but the pair said goodbye to Ireland in 1999 and moved to Sydney.

As Irish cricket gathered speed under Adi Birrell, his old teammate Jason Molins - now Ireland captain - worked out in 2004 that Johnston was entitled to an Irish passport through marriage and he suddenly found himself back in Dublin as playercoach of Clontarf. As soon as he had the little harpembossed booklet in his hands he was in the team to play Surrey and took a crucial wicket as Ireland stunned the county, and took 2-29 two games later as the West Indies were beaten.

His aggressive bowling and dynamic batting saw him become an instant fixture in the side and when Birrell eventually lost patience with Molins's fitness struggles, Johnston was the obvious choice as leader.

He doesn't yearn for Australia. "Ireland is home now.

I love the lifestyle - the weather's different but the people are just as laid back. I love it here, I could stay here but I don't know where we'll be in five or 10 years." He lowers his voice to explain how much his wife and two children have given up "so I can play three games of cricket".

The batsman Jeremy Bray was here for three months before he realised that cricket was played at all. "I went up to Portlaoise, but they said 'listen, you should go up to Phoenix'." The generosity of the Co Laois junior club in passing on their acquisition to a senior Dublin side ensured that Bray quickly got on the road that has taken him to Sabina Park .

The boy from Dubbo had been quite a star back home, named Australian player of the year at under-19 level and playing youth tests for his country. He broke into the NSW side in 1993 - making 69 on debut - but two months later upped sticks and headed for Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, never to return. His girlfriend, Geraldine, went home to her seriously ill father and Jeremy came along.

"I have a few regrets about my cricket, " he admits, "there was quite a drinking culture in the NSW squad and you'd be staying out 'til five in the morning before games."

He made an instant impact on Leinster cricket, topping the provincial averages in his first season and staying there for the following five summers, breaking many records with his muscular batting. He commuted from Kilkenny where he continued to live and work, but practice was hard to find in that corner of the country. Bray was able to sharpen his reflexes with the hurlers of Erin's Own, standing between the posts as the sliotar was shelled at him from the 21-yard line. He doesn't miss many slip catches now.

He bedded down in the Irish side and has already scored five hundreds, including the first for Ireland in an ODI. "Kenya was very disappointing, " he admits, "we could have won every game but let ourselves down in the disciplines. But we played some unbelievable cricket - some of the best I've ever seen." He's an unflappable sort, and the thought of walking out to face the speedmen of Pakistan and West Indies doesn't faze him in the slightest. "I've faced Steve Harmison who's quicker than anyone I'll face there, and with bounce. After facing him at 94mph I don't really care."

The bowler Dave Langford-Smith came over here for a mate's wedding - but as the mate was Jeremy Bray it was inevitable that cricket raised its head. "I met some people from Phoenix at the wedding and they asked me to stay. I said 'too right'!" he recalls.

He also met Maebh from Rathfarnham, so there was a further reason to keep him in Dublin. He too grew to feel Irish: "We went home for our honeymoon in December 2005 and after a few weeks I started to feel homesick - for Ireland."

DLS wasn't a state player like the other two, but played nine seasons in the toughest league of all - Sydney first grade - for the University of NSW and St George. After a couple of prolific seasons with Phoenix, he was picked for Ireland's first game in the C&G Trophy against Hampshire last April. His first over rattled England batsman John Crawley, but thereafter he was fodder, his 34 balls costing 63 runs. "I bowled badly. It was only then that I realised that I was representing the Irish nation. I had an absolute shocker."

Birrell stuck by him however, and he took three England wickets at Stormont and lots more at the European Championships. Some put this down to the disappearance of his spare tyre on the Motivation Diet. "It was hard.

It cost me Euro1,000 too. But I showed I can play OK."

His parents won't be making the trip to Jamaica, but his old school principal and science teacher from Canobolas High in Orange will be there, cheering him on for his adopted country. "I love Ireland, " he says, "I know now that this is where I'll be."