There was really no escaping cricket in Niall O'Brien's childhood. He arrived fifth of the six born to former Ireland captain Brendan and Camilla, all of whom played senior cricket. The eldest son Paul - always a better hockey player - has retired, but Gerard, Niall and Kevin were all regulars last season and Conor and dad Brendan turned out too. Sister Ciara, an international hockey player, is also a regular on the cricket side in Park Avenue.

Even after playing second grade in Sydney he still reckons the back garden was the hardest cricket he's played to date. This week's European Championship may prove a tough baptism for the Railway Union wicketkeeper batsman, but he'd still prefer it to facing Kevin and Gerard off eight yards on the garden path.

"The path was slightly off-centre so I worked harder on my off-side shots to get runs, the right-handers are all strong on the leg-side!"

After several appearances for Ireland's underage sides throughout his teens, he started the 2002 season with two ambitions: to make his first senior hundred and to win an Irish cap.

The batting ambition was achieved on Saturday 4 May, when he made 101 against Cork Harlequins in the Irish Senior Cup, and two days later when he carried his bat through 50 overs against Malahide for an unbeaten 114.

Such form was rewarded when he was given a late call-up by the Southern selectors as a batsman for the regional challenges and he took his chance. He made 37 and 14 against the North West and 49 against the NCU and that night got a phone call from Adi Birrell which sorted out that second ambition.

"I was quite surprised", he admits, "I didn't expect to get in ahead of Patto". Andrew Patterson didn't either, telling CricketIreland last week "It is very disappointing to be dismissed completely after just two games this season. It's a real kick in the teeth but it did not come as a big surprise. The National Coach seemed to have his mind made up, even before he came here and since he arrived I have had very little feedback."

O'Brien's trip to South Africa last winter has clearly paid early dividends. He had spent the first half of the winter, like that of 2000-01, in Mosman, a Sydney club, when he got a call in a bar one Sunday night from his father. One of Ken Rutherford's final acts had been to select O'Brien and Andy White to go to the Eastern Province Academy in Port Elizabeth.

A quick trip home for Christmas was followed by ten weeks in South Africa and some intensive coaching under the tutelage of former South Africa and Australia test player Kepler Wessels and Mark Davis of Sussex. Great emphasis was placed on fitness and physical development and O'Brien worked hard.

The Academy Ð who included several county players like Ricky Clarke, Paul Hutchinson and Matthew Yardy Ð played half a dozen games against state selections and it was at one of these that he came across Birrell. "I did well that day, a couple of 30s, and kept well too". Adrian and Kepler were both very positive, very encouraging."

With his game in better nick than ever before, it seemed inevitable that O'Brien would explode onto the Leinster scene. The two hundreds have been accompanied so far by four fifties and a Lewis-Traub League winners' medal, the first senior trophy won by Railway Union for more than thirty years.

The tide seems to be turning towards Park Avenue, a club who have been far less successful in recent decades than neighbours Pembroke, YMCA and Merrion. That side is no one-man-show however. Besides a nod to his brother Ger's captaincy, and the crucial final performance of the hitherto out-of-form pro Adrian Murphy, O'Brien is enthusiastic about his contemporaries Kenny Carroll, Conor Mullen, Kevin O'Brien and Roger Whelan. "They'll all play for Ireland in the next few years", he says. He especially flies the flag for brother Kevin, a powerful all-rounder who bowls very tightly.

Although there was plenty of cricket for O'Brien in Park Avenue, he didn't go to a cricket playing school. "I was at Marian College in Ballsbridge. We had loads of good players like Roger Whelan, Kevin, Paul Ryan of Clontarf, and there was talk of us amalgamating with St Michael's but it never happened. I think schools cricket is over-rated though, its terrible that players could be playing senior league but they have to turn out for their schools."

Although he kept wicket for underage representative sides Ð and for Railway adult junior sides for whom he first played aged 12 Ð for much of his career Niall has been selected as a batsman. He was first picked as wicketkeeper for his province when he wasn't keeping for his club, and first picked as wicketkeeper for Ireland when he wasn't keeping for his province.

He enjoyed playing for the Merrion XI against Middlesex in the Philip Quinlan testimonial, and his flying catch to dismiss Ben Hutton drew admiring murmurs and no little interest from the county.

"I'd love to play county cricket, to play for a living," he says, and it looks like he'll get his chance some time soon. "I know (Middlesex captain) Andrew Strauss from Australia and himself and Ed Joyce are trying to organise me a trial". There has also been interest expressed by Gloucestershire, Derbyshire and Ð via Birrell Ð Kent.

The world seems to opening up for O'Brien, and a good showing this week will set him on the road to catching the 52 caps his father won between 1966 and 1981. "Dad's a brilliant coach, the best I've ever worked with, and that includes Kepler, Peter Philpott and Barry Knight."

He's confident about the European Championships, although admitting he doesn't know much about Ireland's opponents. He's sure Birrell will get the best out of a talented side "Adrian is a good motivator, a good guy."

The frustrations of working with mostly amateurs means Birrell won't get his Irish squad together until Wednesday night and a sole practice session on Thursday before the tough first game against Scotland in Lisburn on Friday.

Whatever the summer holds for Niall O'Brien, he will be spending his 21st birthday in Sydney where he's off again for a third winter. One way or another, 2002 has been a very good year for the Railway man.