A superb partnership between Gareth Delany and George Dockrell, coupled with an excellent bowling display by Craig Young kept Ireland's T20 World Cup qualification hopes alive with a 21-run win over Bahrain.

Batting first Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie (33) and Paul Stirling (32) each hit 3 fours and a six in an opening stand of 60 in eight overs to lay a solid foundation for the innings.

When both fell to Junaid Aziz in quick succession, the Irish stuttered and at 100 for 4 in the 16th over, it looked an all-too familiar tale.

However, George Dockrell, playing his 250th game, changed the recent scripts, clearing the ropes twice in a hard-hit 24 from 11 balls, as he and former Leinster team mate Gareth Delany went on the attack.

The pair added 54 in 27 balls as 58 runs came in the last five overs, allowing Ireland to set what appeared a slightly above par 158 for 5.

Delany (51*) benefitted from a couple of lives to reach his third T20I half century from the final ball of the innings, facing 34 deliveries, hitting 3 sixes and a four.

Bahrain's batting unit will reflect on the chase in which they seemed tentative, lacking the belief they could actually win until it was too late.

Young set the tone with three wickets at the top of the order, while McBrine's 1 for 19 strangled the middle overs - his wicket being his 100th for Ireland in all formats.

Muhammad Younis (30), David Mathias (28) – and a late cameo by Veerapathiran Sathaiya of 33* from 14 balls - injected runs into the final total.

The 21-run margin was more comfortable than suggested, but the Irish will be hoping the late runs don't prove costly in the final NRR calculations should Bahrain beat UAE in the Middle-East derby on Monday.

“A tough test today, we had to fight and scrap," said captain Andy Balbirnie afterwards.

"Gareth Delany and George Dockrell did that with the bat to probably get us into a winning position.

"It was a slow enough wicket and it was hard to take ten wickets, so we had to restrict them and bowl tight lines, which I thought we did pretty well.

“Craig Young has been bowling brilliantly for a couple of years for us and he’s really taken on that senior bowling role mantle, he was really good again today, as were most of our bowlers. “

“As for Germany, we’re not playing good enough cricket to under-estimate any team, and we are hoping to hit our peak form over these last key games and earn that right to go to Australia.”

Gareth Delany pipped Craig Young to the Man of the Match award, and was delighted to contribute to the vital win.

“It was a bit tricky to start. George coming in helped me get going, he really added some impetus there in the middle, which helped towards the end.

“It was an incredible day for George, his 250th international, which is an achievement in itself. I love playing with him, we’ve obviously grown up playing with each other as well, and today we really got on well in the middle.

"Hopefully we can play well enough to get to a semi-final place, but today is a bit of relief.”

Ireland continues their World Cup Qualifier campaign on Monday against Germany at 6am (GMT) at the same venue.