Paul Robert Stirling was born 3rd September 1990 in Belfast, Norther Ireland. He is reckoned as on of the key Irish players and plays for the Ireland Cricket squad in all three formats. He is also one of the eleven Irish cricketers who got to play in Ireland’s first ever test match against Pakistan in May 2018. Stirling scored his maiden first-class century in July 2009. He opened the batting with Jeremy Bray and in the first innings scored 100 In Ireland's opening match of the 2009–10 ICC Intercontinental Cup. Stirling was picked for the Ireland squad that participated in 2010 Under-19 World Cup hosted by New Zealand in January. The Irish finished as runners-up to Bangladesh in the Championship, finishing tenth overall out of 16 teams. Stirling finished the tournament as the team's leading run-scorer, with 209 from five matches.

Stirling was nominated in the “Emerging player of the year” and also for the “Associate and Affiliate Player of the year” in August 2010 at the ICC awards. Sterling became the only associate member to be nominated in the "Emerging Player" category, while the other 15 players were selected from Test-playing nations. Ireland that year, had most nominees in the "Associate and Affiliate" category, with Trent Johnston and Kevin O'Brien included alongside Stirling. It was rare for a player from an Associate nation to be nominated in two or more categories.

Stirling made his debut in first-class cricket playing for Ireland in the Intercontinental Cup in March 2008. Stirling made his debut in One Day Internationals in the same year. Stirling had represented Middlesex's youth sides and Second XI so he signed a contract with the club in December 2009. A month later Stirling was given a permanent contract with Cricket Ireland, which made him one of six players with a full-time contract with the board. After that, he made his Twenty20 and List A debuts for Middlesex in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Stirling made his ODI debut against New Zealand at the Mannofield Park on 1st July in 2008. Stirling was picked for the Ireland's 15-man squad for the 2011 World Cup. Ireland won two out of six matches but could not progress beyond the group stage. In their last match they defeated Netherlands. Stirling opened the batting with team captain William Porterfield as Ireland were Chasing 307 to win on a batsman’s paradise. The duo shared a partnership of 177 runs, setting a record for Ireland's first wicket in ODIs. Stirling got out for 101, his hundred came off 70 deliveries, which happens to be the fourth-fastest in World Cup history. In the 116 matches Stirling has played, he has smashed 8 hundreds and 24 fifties.

Stirling made his Test debut against Pakistan at the Village, on 11th May 2018, he scored 17 runs in the first innings, and became the first Irish batsman to hit a boundary in Test cricket. He has played in 3 test matches till date and has scored 104 runs at an average of 17.33. He has a strike rate of 58.76 in the longest format of the game.

Stirling made his T20 debut on 15th June 2009 against Pakistan at Kennington Oval. He has played 78 matches in his career so far and has scored 2124 runs at an impressive strike rate of 139.28. He has scored 18 fifties and his highest score in a T20 match is 95.

Stirling has certainly proved himself as an asset for an Associate country like Ireland. It is because players like him that Associate teams get noticed and are then further encouraged to participate more in International competition.