The Ireland women's tennis team were fortunate in yesterday's draw for the Fed Cup series which starts at the La Manga club in Murcia Spain this morning. Ireland's team captain Peter Lowther said he was especially pleased to avoid Hungary and Israel, the highest seeded teams.

Ireland have been seeded four and will compete against Malta, Macedonia, Algeria and Turkey. "I consider that we have the best chance of promotion from the Euro African Group in the past four years," said Lowther.

The team captain is so confident of beating Malta in today's opener that he is resting number one Kelly Liggan.

Women's Hockey: A 63rd minute goal from Sharon Morgan gave Pegasus II a 2-1 victory over Old Alexandra II in the final match of the Irish Junior League finals in Belfast yesterday, securing the hosts their fourth victory in the May Costley tournament in five years.

Earlier in the day Enniscorthy clinched third place by beating Cork's Church of Ireland II 3-0.

Meanwhile in Dublin on Saturday, University of Ulster's Suzanne Beaney scored the only goal of the game to give British Universities a win over their Irish counterparts in the inaugural fixture between the teams.

Irish Junior League Finals: (at Queen's University) - Saturday: Athlone 0, Pegasus II 10 (S Lyons 3, S Martin 3, R Jamieson 2, S Morgan, J Campbell); Old Alexandra II 4 (C Smith, J McEvoy, C Stewart, I Harbison), Church of Ireland II 0; Enniscorthy 8 (P Rankin 3, O Williamson, M Bailey, K Donoghue, S Sinnott 2), Athlone 0; Pegasus II 2 (J Campbell 2), Church of Ireland II 0; Enniscorthy 2 (A Murray, P Rankin), Old Alexandra II 4 (G O'Shea 2, C Parkes, C Smith). Yesterday: Church of Ireland II 0, Enniscorthy 3 (P Rankin 3); Athlone 0, Old Alexandra II 7 (T Hosford 3, I Harbison, C Smyth, G O'Shea, F Couse); Pegasus II 3 (S Martin 2, J Campbell), Enniscorthy 0; Athlone 1 (R Moran), Church of Ireland II 8 (C Mannix 5, C Fennelly 2, D O'Leary); Pegasus II 2 (J Campbell, S Morgan), Old Alexandra II 1 (C Smyth pen).

Universities' International: (at Aer Lingus) - Irish Universities 0, British Universities 1 (S Beaney).

Athletics: Paula Radcliffe set her sights on Sonia O'Sullivan's two-mile world record after a triumphant display in the Road Races at Balmoral Castle yesterday.

The Bedford star broke the world mark over five miles for a second straight year in an incredible 24 minutes 47 seconds and crossed the finish line more than a minute ahead of runner-up Jackline Maranga, Kenya's Commonwealth 1500m gold medallist.

Radcliffe will soon start training to attack O'Sullivan's record of 9:19.56, which the Irishwoman set in Cork last June.

Radcliffe is to take aim at the record at the Loughborough International on May 24th and, if she does pull it off, will earn a $10,000 bonus. One might have thought Radcliffe would be happy to sit back and rest on her laurels and prepare specifically for this summer's World championships.

But British athletics is yearning to re-establish its reputation and Radcliffe has agreed with Fast Track organisers to target O'Sullivan's record at Loughborough.

Before Radcliffe's magnificent performance, five times World Cross Country champion Paul Tergat outsprinted Morocco's former Olympic 10,000m gold medallist Khalid Skah to win their five-mile clash by a second in a very fast 22:27. Kenyan Thomas Nyariki, the Commonwealth 5,000m silver medallist, was third in 22:32.

Golf: Louth are this year's All-Ireland Inter-County golf champions after beating Derry in Saturday's final. The smallest county in Ireland defeated Kerry, the Munster champions, by 31/2 to 11/2 in the semi-final, while Derry, the Ulster champions, easily accounted for Connacht representatives, Roscommon, by four and one.

Derry went into Saturday afternoon's final on the back of three successive Ulster victories. But this was their first occasion in a final.

However, things did not go well for Derry as Louth's first three players all had victories: Keith Beirth won two up over David Jones, Frank Gannon defeated Derry's Des Ballantine 5 and 4, while Peter Rogers ensured victory with a 19th hole win over Michael McGeady.

Louth's Seamus McParland and Derry's Gavin Higgins shared their match, while Mark Kilgore was Derry's lone winner - two and one over Barry Reddan.

This was Louth's fifth win in the 20-year history of this competition.

Semi-Finals: - Louth 31/2 Kerry 11/2, Derry 4 Roscommon 1.

Final: - Louth 31/2 Derry 11/2.

Boxing: When light heavys Brian Ferry of Dunfanaghy and Coleman Barrett of Olympic Galway set out to decide the last final of the National Youths boxing championships at the National Stadium yesterday it was very much a case of the best wine being kept till last.

In a rousing contest of fluctuating fortunes Ferry, 6-11 in arrears going into the last round, turned the tables on Francie Barrett with a resounding 17-13 triumph. Barrett earlier looked the likely winner with solid combinations but he took a standing count of eight in the final session as Ferry's determination and skills won the day. It still meant that Connacht had lifted a memorable six out of a possible seven titles.