A FLURRY of goals got the Irish team's build-up to Zimbabwe off to a perfect start in the four-nations tournament in Cardiff over the weekend, with Hermes Jenny Burke taking full advantage of less than airtight defences to score nine of her team's 22 goals.

Having amassed 11 against Poland on Friday, Ireland had another comfortable victory against Wales on Saturday, with each of the front three of Burke, Mary Logue and Trish Conway getting on the score-sheet in a 4-1 win. Ulster's Laura Brown, who opened the account in the ninth minute from a short corner before creating Conway's goal, was in impressive form as was Sarah Kelleher, who recently helped her club Slough to league success in England.

Burke capped an impressive scoring weekend by adding five to her tally against Slovakia yesterday with Ards' Julie Stewart adding two more. Before leaving for Cardiff, coach Terry Gregg said the tournament would be an opportunity for some of the younger players to stake a claim for a place in the squad that will travel to Zimbabwe - UCC's Michelle O'Sullivan's performances in Wales, as a replacement for injured sweeper Arlene Thompson, greatly enhanced her prospects of a trip to Africa in August.

The team can expect less accommodating defences in Vancouver next month when they will play three of their World Cup qualifying opponents - Canada, Japan and England - as well as the USA in a five-nations tournament.

Meanwhile, Pegasus II won the Irish Junior League finals in Limerick at the weekend with three wins and a draw from their four matches. Corinthians needed to beat the Ulster team in their final match yesterday to win the tournament but a 0-0 draw kept Pegasus on top of the table.