We have already seen some stunning centuries in World Cup 2011; Sehwag, ten Doeschate, Tendulkar, Strauss.

But one innings has eclipsed them all. Kevin O'Brien's innings wasn't just the fastest in World Cup history, but a genuine contender for the best.

Because this was not just some carefree display of hitting in a lost cause - although it may well have started out as such. This was a clinical, matchwinning display.

Ireland may have had nothing to lose when O'Brien took the batting powerplay, but it was still a sign of clear, innovative thinking (the same sort of thinking, incidentally, that saw skipper William Porterfield break all convention and have more than four fielders inside the circle as Ireland successfully - and as it turned out - crucially put a lid on England's scoring in the mid-innings drearylull).

Five overs, 62 runs, six fours and three sixes later, O'Brien was on his way to becoming a legend for a quite brutal display of clean, pure hitting.

If anything, what happened next was more impressive still. With the adrenaline flowing, it would've been easy and understandable for O'Brien to carry on picking up the bat and bothering the plastic seats.

But he looked up at the scoreboard, saw that Ireland needed 80 from 72 balls and knew that biffing was no longer required.

His faith in middle-order pair Alex Cusack and John Mooney was repaid as O'Brien contented himself with ones and twos against a shellshocked England bowling attack whose skills deserted them under the pressure of a pink-haired juggernaut.

O'Brien hit just one further boundary after the batting powerplay and, although he fell agonisingly short of completing the job himself, the hard work was done.

It was a game-changing innings of consequence way beyond this match.

It will change O'Brien's life: at a stroke he has become a cricket star and an IPL contract would now surprise no-one.

But most pressingly, he has blown Group B wide open meaning there are no longer any dead games in that section.

It has raised the prospect of a second consecutive appearance in the last eight of the World Cup for Ireland. When the joy and hangovers subside today, they will curse their failure to chase down Bangladesh's 204 in their opening game.

But still victories over Holland and West Indies - eminently possible on the evidence we've seen thus far - should be enough for a quarter-final spot.

And that, of course, would be a significant embarrassment and inconvenience to the ICC and its desire to shut out the Associates from future World Cups.

At the very least, Ireland should be presented with a realistic qualification route into the final 10.

It will also raise again the question of how long Ireland should be saddled with Associate status anyway.

They are a better side than Bangladesh were when they were promoted to Test status to strengthen the Asian bloc vote at the ICC.

And unlike other Associates, they are developing their own talent at an impressive rate.

Canada have a team of wily spinners and wristy batsmen raised on the dry, dusty tracks of Ontario and Quebec.

Kenya are still picking 84-year-old veteran Steve Tikolo and the only marginally less-gnarled Obuyas.

Holland have two top-class batsmen in their ranks: one is South African, the other Australian.

While some of the experienced South African and Australian old guard that helped Ireland emerge as a genuine cricket nation remain, their young players coming through are exclusively homegrown.

In the last five years, Ireland have produced the O'Brien brothers, William Porterfield, Boyd Rankin, Gary Wilson, Paul Stirling and George Dockrell, an outrageously promising teenage spinner who would probably already have a couple of Test caps were he Australian.

And, of course, some chap called Eoin Morgan.

No other Associate nation comes close to that production line of talent. Zimbabwe and Bangladesh cannot match it.

So where to next for Ireland and the ICC?

For all that the game has grown in Ireland, the prospect of significant first-class cricket there is remote. English county cricket remains Ireland's greatest strength and greatest threat, providing a high-quality arena for its players to develop and improve, yet inevitably stifling any top-class cricket at home.

But a route needs to be mapped out for Ireland. They are rapidly outgrowing Associate cricket.

Ireland are not yet ready for Test cricket, but they are certainly ready to play more games against the elite.

Sides touring England should be playing Ireland as well. This is obvious.

And not just token games here and there, but proper three-match ODI series as well as T20s.

And instead of playing a couple of half-hearted warm-up games against uninterested, much-changed county sides, why not give India or Australia or South Africa a couple of proper four-day first-class matches against a full-strength Ireland side?

The touring sides should be up for it as they would undoubtedly get more meaningful preparation (look at how playing hard-nosed 'proper' cricket helped England's Ashes bid) than is currently the case.

And it would help Ireland develop as a side that can impress in white as well as green.

They must also be given greater opportunity and assistance in touring the Test nations themselves to play ODIs and decent first-class cricket.

While it's not the overriding factor, Ireland's support would also be welcomed everywhere they went. We always hear about the benefits the Barmy Army bring to the local economy, and what the Blarney Army might lack in absolute numbers they would more than make up in lack of boorish obnoxious self-importance. And their numbers would only swell as Ireland continue to improve.

Whatever happens, Ireland must be rewarded for their performances and their ability to generate their own players rather than rely on ex-pats.

And then Ireland can be an example to other Associate nations of what can be achieved with consistent development.

Perhaps all this is hopelessly idealistic. At its core it relies on the ICC a) admitting they may have been wrong about the best way to develop an Associate nation and b) various governing bodies domestic and international acting for the greater good of the game rather than their own self-interest.

But after seeing a pink-haired all-rounder from Dublin play one of the all-time great innings, anything seems possible.