BASKETBALL/European Championships: Irish basketball has been screaming out for an inspirational figure for some time. Now in Pat Burke they appear to have found such a leader.

The former Orlando Magic player is plying his trade with the galacticos of Real Madrid, a fact which has allowed him make a return to international level in the first time in over 10 years.

Many of the players in the current Irish set-up are from America, as are all the top players in the domestic Superleague. However, Burke may have been Stateside for some years now, yet he has more of a right to an Irish passport than most.

Born in Dublin 30 years ago, his father's family hails from Mayo while his mother is a native of Tullamore. If that's not good enough, he spent the first three years of his life on this island until the Burke clan moved to Cleveland, Ohio. In fairness, the basketball education came while in high school in Florida.

Burke was a junior Irish international in his late teens before a role in the prestigious NBA took up his focus. Now seeing out the twilight of his career in Europe, he realised what he was missing from talking to other Europe-based squad members, and Burke answered the call this year.

"I've been absent for a long stretch there," Burke says. "During the course of the last two years playing in Europe I met back with some of the guys, like Marty Conlon, Jim Moran and Jay Larranga. I knew I was missing out on something, so I knew I wanted to get back into it before my career ended."

Another factor that kept him out of international action since returning to Europe has been the fixture list. Considering Burke has been playing at the elite end of the continental game, he was inevitably involved in the play-offs when international matches were taking place.

Also, Real Madrid were not exactly overjoyed to be releasing him this week for the three-game European qualifier series.

Ireland beat Malta last Saturday and play Switzerland in the National Arena tonight (7.30), before heading to the Slovak Republic this weekend. Thankfully, a compromise was met.

If the Olympics taught world basketball anything it's that America no longer have a god-given right to dominate the sport. Burke agrees that there is a significant reduction in the gulf between Europe and the NBA.

"When I played with the Orlando Magic I was surprised how little the players knew about the fundamentals of the game. The strategy. I think that's what helped me to be a starter on the team.

"I don't want to bash the NBA, but all you have is a lot of superstars. You got guys who got to have their 25 points per night. When we play in Europe you can't play like that. Everybody has one common goal and that's to win, who cares who scored what? I love just playing, but I like winning too."

Just the kind of attitude required for tonight's vital showdown with the Swiss.