IRELAND'S trustworthy doubles partnership of Owen Casey and Eoin Collins saw off the challenge of Cameroon, for a 2-1 win; in a vital Davis Cup tie at the Nairobi Club in Kenya yesterday.

The Dubliners have played more doubles for Ireland than any other partnership since the Doyle Sorensen era in the 1980s and yesterday's straight sets victory ranks among their most valuable.

Cameroon were assured of splitting the singles when Scott Barron was beaten by a tricky player in Angelin Mvogo, 6-4 6-1, in just over an hour. But the best was to follow for the Irish team - Casey demolished Cameroon's number one Lionel Kemajou in less than an hour, 6-1 6-2, and then teamed up with Collins to rebuff the challenge convincingly of the hitherto undefeated doubles pair of Mvogo and Joseph Royebog, 6-4 6-2.

If Casey's play throughout the day was the highlight for team captain Peter Wright, the doubles performance that clinched the win, making Ireland the only unbeaten team in the tournament, proved the ultimate in terms of relief.

Reflecting on the one hour and nine minutes decider, Wright said: "Our boys played error free tennis. I was that bit apprehensive going into the doubles because Cameroon had split the singles with Moldova and Estonia but had won both those matches. We were a little bit concerned but Casey and Collins were too powerful and sharp. They were tremendous. Had we lost it, it was over for us."

Ireland play Zambia today. Moldova tomorrow and finally Estonia on Sunday.

"We have a very good chance but we have to focus," said Wright. "If we make any mistakes from here on in, it would be very costly. We are in the driver's seat at the moment. Any slip-ups and we could find ourselves out of it."