Morning rain in Malahide delayed Ireland's inevitable victory over the United Arab Emirates for half an hour before Craig Young removed number 11 batsman Muhammed Naveed with the fourth ball to secure an innings and 26 run victory in their opening Intercontinental Cup match.
Ireland claimed the maximum 20 points on offer for the win, the ninth time in their 21 victories in the competition that they have only needed to bat one time.
Just two runs were added to the UAE's overnight total before Young found the edge of Naveed's bat, with George Dockrell taking a smart catch running backwards in the covers.
It gave seamer Young a seventh wicket in the game, a haul matches by Dockrell’s left-arm spin as Ireland claimed 20 wickets in 172 overs on an outstanding batting pitch.
Ireland join Nambia on top of the Intercontinental table, with the two sides meeting in the next round of the competition in Windhoek later this year.
Khurram Khan, a mainstay of the UAE team for the last 11 years, announced his retirement at the age of 43 following the match.
Khan, who was born in Pakistan but moved to Dubai to work for Emirates Airlines, retires with the record as the oldest player to make an ODI century, a feat he achieved last November against Afghanistan.
ICC INTERCONTINENTAL CUP
(at Malahide): Day 4 of 4:
Ireland 1st inns 492 (118.3 ovs) (E Joyce 231, P Stirling 146; Amjad Javed 4-117).
UAE 1st inns 213 (71.3 ovs) (Shaiman Anwar 57, Asif Iqbal 43; C Young 4-51, J Mooney 3-36, G Dockrell 3-48) & 253 (100 ovs) (Swapnil Patil 63, Saqib Ali 51; G Dockrell 4-93, P Stirling 2-31, C Young 3-59).
Ireland (20 pts) bt UAE (0pts) by an innings and 26 runs.
