Sohail, the record holder for most goals in international hockey, capitalized on two penalty corners in the first half to give Pakistan a title-winning triumph in the quadrangular that also featured China and France.

The Pakistanis, who were stunned by underdogs France in their opening match of the tournament last week, were in full flow in the final as they never allowed Ireland much room on their way to a convincing victory.

“It’s a morale-boosting results for our boys,” Khawaja Junaid, the Pakistan team manager, told Arab News. “The current tour of Europe is aimed at preparing the team for the Olympic Games and its great that we have started it with a title,” added Junaid, a former Olympian.

Three-time Olympic Pakistan are fancying their chances of winning a medal at the 2012 Olympic in London after regaining the Asian Games crown in China in 2010 after a gap of 20 years.

The Greenshirts have now reached Amstelveen (Netherlands) where they will lock horns with European giants Germany, Netherlands and Great Britain in the four-nation Rabo Trophy getting underway from June 8.

“It is going to be tough tournament for us as all the three teams are higher ranked than Pakistan,” said Junaid. “But after a series of good results in Dublin, the boys are confident and we are expecting them to play well in the forthcoming tournament,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, in Singapore Pakistan’s under-18 team overcame the disappointment of losing to Korea in the semifinals of the Under-18 Asian Cup when they blanked the hosts 6-0 to finish third in the tournament.

As defending champions, Pakistan were seeded to win the tournament but they fell to Korea in a close encounter on Saturday.

However, the colts were in full in their play-off for the third position against Singapore after leading 3-0 at half time.

Waseem Abbas and Bilal Qadir scored two goals apiece while Arslan Qadir and Muhammad Irfan also added their names to the score-sheet with one goal each.