Arlene Kelly and Cara Murray took Ireland to the brink of what would have been a sensational victory over the West Indies in Lahore yesterday only to fall agonisingly short in a World Cup qualifying thriller.

All hope seemed gone as the Girls in Green slumped to 156-9, chasing 182 to win in a 33-overs per side match, but the last-wicket pair chipped away at the target to leave eight runs required from the final over.

West Indies skipper Hayley Matthews, so often the nemesis of the Ireland team, conceded a single from her first ball and then screamed with delight as Kelly holed out to long on for 18, leaving Murray unbeaten on nine.

Just as in their first game against Pakistan on Wednesday, Ireland could — and probably should — have won.

Jane Maguire again took three wickets, and leg-spinner Murray deserved better than 1-35, but a total of six dropped catches, none of them difficult, allowed the West Indies to post 181-6, and those missed chances ultimately proved the difference.

Gaby Lewis and Amy Hunter got the chase off to a solid start, adding 57 from 10.4 overs before Matthews — who else? — bowled her opposite number for 17, and then crucially held a return catch from Orla Prendergast.

Hunter swept strongly and played some delightful flicks before she was bowled for 48 from 46 balls, and Laura Delany was unlucky to be caught at backward point for 32, when a couple of yards either side and her full-bloodied cut would brought four.

Christina Coulter Reilly kept the scoreboard ticking and the target in sight with three boundaries in her 26 but wickets continued to fall, and if the Girls in Green were never out of the contest nor were they ever winning it.

The six-run defeat almost certainly spells the end of Ireland’s qualification hopes but there is still a very narrow path to the finals if they can beat Bangladesh tomorrow and Scotland and Thailand in the final games next week.