Croatia duly advanced to the playoffs in Euro/African Group Two of the Davis Cup in winning Saturday's doubles: it gave them an unassailable 3-0 lead and rendered largely meaningless yesterday's reverse singles.

It wasn't, however, at all meaningless for 18-year-old Conor Niland, who was handed his Davis Cup debut by non-playing captain Peter Wright when he faced the six-foot, nine-inch Ivo Karlovic in the first of yesterday's singles. Despite a fine effort in winning the first set, Niland lost the following two - 6-3, 6-4.

The young Limerick-born player admitted: "I was very nervous initially. I didn't realise how nervous I was going to be, what with the big crowd, the occasion and the pace of the tennis. I lost my first service game which didn't really help but played a couple of good points on his, which helped me to settle."

Niland soon discovered both a rhythm on serve and a way of utilising his big forehand to telling effect, recovering from a 3-1 deficit to take the set 6-4.

"I don't know what happened after that. I suppose I lost a little bit of concentration and he played a bit better." Karlovic won the second set 6-3 and, with the battle delicately poised at 4-4, 30-30 on the Croatian's serve in the final set, Niland felt he had a good opportunity.

"He came up with a couple of big service winners and then broke me in the following game." Having just finished his A levels at Millfield in England, Niland will take a year out to concentrate on tennis, playing in Futures and Satellite tournaments.

Owen Casey raced through the first set 6-1 against Lovro Zovko but could not sustain the effort. He lost the next 6-4 and appeared set for a deserved victory when enjoying three match-points on Zovko's serve at 5-4 in the third. The Croatian managed to register three first serves which helped him to survive: he eventually closed out the match in a tiebreak, 7-3.

Saturday's doubles had effectively ended the cup-tie as a contest when Goran Ivanisevic and Ivo Karlovic survived losing a first set against Casey and Scott Barron (7-6) to win the next three in facile fashion, frequently breaking their opponents' serve.

RESULT: Ireland 0 - Croatia 5.