Paul Mooney sparked Ireland's World Cup campaign to life in Toronto yesterday with a superb spell of 4-17 as Bermuda were beaten by eight wickets at Maple Leaf.

Mooney and new ball partner Adrian McCoubrey (3-28) had the previously unbeaten Group B leaders reeling at 34-6 and despite a late Bermudian rally Ireland had few scares reaching their victory target of 116 with 20.3 overs to spare. McCoubrey again bowled with fire but Mooney put more holes in the Bermudian ship with a most impressive comeback after conceding 18 runs in his opening over against the US on Friday and consequently missing out on the Hong Kong game. The North County seamer broke through in the third over when Albert Steede edged low to first slip for Decker Curry to hold a good catch, and after McCoubrey had claimed the first of two lbw decisions, he had the dangerous Clay Smith taken at second slip catch by Jason Molins.

Mooney's third wicket came when Janeiro Tucker failed to clear Mark Patterson at mid-off, captain Charlie Marshall departed in a similar fashion and an Ireland team that had been noticeably subdued during two unconvincing opening matches in Canada were suddenly on their toes.

While Mooney bowled his 10 overs straight through, McCoubrey gave way early to allow Mark Patterson to claim the seventh wicket thanks to a diving catch by Matt Dwyer.