Sportswoman of the Year June award: When Jenny Burke took a five-month break from hockey after the 2002 World Cup in Australia the assumption was that she would put her feet up for a while, after seven unbroken years of senior international hockey, which were preceded by her involvement in the under-16, 18 and 21 squads. Instead she began training for Australia's biggest women's triathlon, in which she came 15th in her age group in an event that attracted 515 competitors.
That, then, says something of the role sport plays in Burke's life: her idea of a holiday isn't quite everybody's. When she returned home to Dublin from Australia to play for her club, Hermes, in the All-Ireland Club Championships she was fitter than she ever was. "At least my team-mates recognised me when I came back," she said. "The last time I went away I spent the summer working in a doughnut shop in America, say no more."
Around then Burke agonised over whether to call a halt to her international career, as many of her team-mates did in the months after the World Cup, the ever increasing demands on their time playing havoc with their working and personal lives.
Initially she decided the time had come to move on and announced her retirement, but when coach Riet Kuper pleaded with her to return for the 2003 European Championships she agreed. "You're a long time retired," she said.
Since the Europeans she has played in the Olympic Qualifier in New Zealand (last year) and, next month, will be vice captain when Ireland host the European Championships in Dublin.
Last month she travelled to Seoul for the KT Cup which featured three of the world's leading hockey nations, Korea, England and China, as well as India, a team that has had a habit of troubling Ireland in recent major tournaments.
Burke excelled in such high class company, in matches played in stifling heat, scoring four goals in six matches from her midfield position, still a relatively unfamiliar role for a player who has played most of her career up front.
She was outstanding in the 0-0 draw with China, scored both goals in the 2-1 win over India, adding to her tally against Malaysia before scoring again against China in the bronze medal defeat. Those goals took her above the 50 mark in international hockey, giving her a goal-in-every-three-games ratio, a remarkable record.
She has also become only the third Irish player to win 150 caps or more - she is now third in the list, on 152, behind Mary Logue (153) and Rachael Kohler (166), both of whom are retired - and one of only 10 to reach the century mark. The first three women (Sarah Kelleher, Logue and Kohler) to win 100 caps for Ireland were "Irish by birth, Cork by the grace of God", as they put it in those parts. Since then five Ulster players and Wexford's Linda Caulfield have reached the mark, leaving Burke (31) as the only Dubliner on the list.
It is 10 years since Burke made her senior debut, against China in St Petersburg. She won her 50th cap four years later, adding 102 more caps over the next six years: an indication of the increased demands on the Irish squad in recent times, and the level of commitment Burke has shown to her sport. She is, then, The Irish Times/Mitsubishi Electric Sports Woman of the Month for June, specifically for her performances in Korea, but more generally as an acknowledgement that she is one of Ireland's very finest sportswomen, and has been for a decade.
