One time Northern Irish foes unite in praise of team

DUBLIN, Apri 18 (Reuters) Hardline Protestant cleric Ian Paisley and one-time arch-enemy Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander, united today to congratulate the Irish cricket team on their performance in the World Cup.

Pro-British Paisley and Irish nationalist McGuinness, who are due to begin sharing power in a regional assembly in Northern Ireland next month, hailed ''a marvellous achievement'' and invited the team to a reception in Belfast.

''Qualifying for the tournament itself was tremendous, but making the Super Eight stage was nothing short of remarkable,'' they said in one of their first joint statements since agreeing in March to end decades of enmity between their parties.

World Cup debutants Ireland stunned cricket aficionados with a shock victory over former world champions Pakistan, triggering a new-found national interest in a sport many in the Irish Republic had regarded as a colonial hangover following the country's independence from Britain in 1921.

PARTICULAR PRAISE McGuinness paid particular praise to local players Jeremy Bray, Peter Gillespie, Kyle McCallan and Andrew White, while Paisley singled out the manager, ''Ulsterman'' Roy Torrens.

At the weekend, Ireland had their first second-stage Super Eights win, dashing Bangladesh's semi-final hopes with a 74-run victory.

They lost their final match by eight wickets to Sri Lanka today in Grenada.

Paisley, whose Democratic Unionist Party is the main representative of Northern Ireland's Protestant majority, will be First Minister when the Belfast-based executive takes over the running of the British province's affairs on May 8.

McGuinness, a veteran of the IRA's political ally Sinn Fein -- and a self-confessed former commander of the guerrilla group -- will act as Deputy First Minister.

The pastime remained popular in partitioned British-ruled Northern Ireland, where the playing of Gaelic games such as hurling were until recently politically contentious.

More than 3,600 people were killed in 30 years of sectarian bloodshed in Northern Ireland between majority Protestants committed to ties with Britain and a Catholic minority in favour of a united Ireland.

Reuters DH VP0116