I think it's fair to say that this would be the first time we have failed to deliver in terms of what the cricketing world expects of us.

In the past we have failed in what we expect of ourselves and perhaps in what our close fans and followers expect. But if you were to ask any cricket fan before that tournament started who they expected to win I would suggest that on most people's list we would have been at the top.

We didn't play anywhere near to our potential. There were some bright areas, with the ball our seamers delivered and without them it perhaps could have been worse. It certainly would have been more difficult.

Our fielding too was generally of a high standard, we caught most of our catches and the ground fielding went up a level since we were last together. Obviously the biggest disappointment was in our batting department and that hurts to write..

Being a batter myself! None of us played the way we know we can and its not a skill thing. The majority of that top 6 that finished the tournament have been in good form in domestic t20 cricket in England so why couldn't we carry it on?

We simply struggled to adapt and again it sounds silly to say that because it was our home conditions. Too many times we got caught between not knowing whether to stick or twist... Myself included. What happens then, is after a few times of that occurring you begin to try and over hit the ball when it does come in to your area. I know I was guilty of that myself.

It was majorly disappointing, not least so for the 2,500 fans that turned out to watch us on Saturday. It's not about issuing apologies but they deserved better. You can have all the marquee games against England and Australia that you like but to have that many people turn out to watch a game against Holland, a game between two "associate" countries meant a huge amount to the players.

I just hope the watching Giles Clarke took note because to me, that tells anyone that there is a market for cricket in this country. It's difficult to write a piece when you've been involved with something that hasn't gone well but I can tell everyone reading that it has hurt and it will only spur us on to become better.

We have 8 months until the t20 World Cup in India and we will be working hard to put ourselves in a great position to go on and do well in that tournament. With t20 cricket anyone can have their day out.

It is our best chance to go on and do well in a world competition. The tournament in Ireland is the first associate event that we haven't won since the UAE in 2010, 5 years of winning these competitions and dominating that level. We now need to make sure that there isn't a changing of the guard.

Back in 2005 Scotland were very much the leading associate and had been for a few years and no doubt they would have been saying the same thing to themselves. Since then, not only have we been leading the way but I thinks it's fair to say that both on and off the pitch we have been ahead by a distance.

Now, other teams are getting better. Scotland are coming back into things as well as Holland. But it's not just these teams Hong Kong and PNG were both impressive and Oman qualifying is a brilliant story but we must now stay ahead.

Other associate countries would still give their left arm to be where we are now in terms of games we will hopefully get and the administration we have in place. The onus is on us to make sure it stays that way. The depth in players is getting greater, look at some of the names that missed out on selection for the tournament, Sorensen and Poynter.

Guys like Young and Chase can bowl with real pace. So although it hurt and believe me, there is not much worse as an Irish cricketer than seeing Scotland lift a trophy that you were playing for, it's not all doom and gloom.

We are up for the fight, look at it this way, 3 months ago if you said to most fans, journalists or cricket followers that the bowling would be our strong suit they would scarcely have believed you.

It's almost a complete reversal of the World Cup and it's huge credit to our bowlers that they turned it round. As batters we need to show that same fight for next time.