Irish cricket has received a bumper cheque from the Sports Council south of the border to lift it out of a deep financial hole - but there could be a sting in the tail for the game north of the border.

It’s my understanding that 350,000 euros (approximately £240,000) were given as a one-off grant by the Dublin-based body which has allowed the Irish Cricket Union to write cheques with impunity to pay a number of creditors.

I’m told the grant has come with no strings attached, simply a recognition that the international team’s increased playing programme has taken an embarrassing toll on the Union’s finances.

However, on the basis that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, I would expect northern supporters to be travelling to Dublin more frequently when the big teams come visiting.

The disastrous attendances at Stormont during the past summer - not least the lukewarm welcome home for the World Cup team at the early Friends Provident ties - compared to the sell-out enthusiasm at Clontarf did little to serve the North’s cause.

The Irish Sports Council’s grant will add volume to the southern voice and looming on the horizon are plans to develop a new venue in the Dublin area to compete with Stormont in terms of seat numbers and hospitality facilities.

The smart money is on Malahide - but wherever it is, the days of England and Australia automatically flying into Belfast are rapidly disappearing.

Other good financial news comes my way from the International Cricket Council which has donated 100,00 US dollars (approximately £50,000) to the ICU’s coffers. The cheque is a belated admission by the world body that Ireland’s unexpectedly longer sojourn at the World Cup, wonderful though it was, ended up costing Irish cricket money in a tournament that made the rich richer and the poor poorer. And it was also due recognition of the sparkle that the Irish put into a pretty lack-lustre event.

 And at this time of giving and receiving, I understand another cheque is on its way - this time from the cricket board in India following those games against South Africa and Ireland at Stormont earlier in the year. The money from the richest cricket nation in the world is to cover contractual agreements - as well as a top-up to allow the Irish Cricket Union to claim a profit from the enterprise, and rightly so.

All of which will put a festive smile of the faces of the ICU Executive whose members meet today Sunday to, somewhat paradoxically and unlike another ruling sports body on the football front, vote themselves out of office to make way for a streamlined Board of Directors.

It means that the new order will start in credit - even with some small reserves - and that’s something which has been difficult to achieve in recent years. Less than a year in his post, the ICU’s Chief Executive, Warren Deutrom, is well on the way to making Irish cricket less reliant on public funding and more so on private commercialism.

The finishing touches have been put to a strategy outlining new sponsorship, ticketing and membership policies and Deutrom tells me : “The message coming from the private sector is that our governance restructure is an important component in making us more attractive to them - by acting like a business, we can be more attractive to business.

“While we may not be in a position to make any announcements this side of Christmas, we are certainly getting some positive signals from the market place.” So while a Happy Christmas is assured, the jury is out on a Prosperous New Year.

On the playing front, Ireland are off to Bangladesh come March, but at this stage there are no plans to entertain a Test-playing nation next summer, whether in Belfast or Dublin.

But the powers that be are confident that a varied programme - including a restructured Friends Provident tournament - will provide enough challenges to prepare for the World Cup qualifiers in the United Arab Emirates in little over a year’s time.