Alan Murray produced a remarkable second round comeback when he fired a brilliant six-under par 66 to make the cut in the Challenge Tour's Club Colombia Masters.

The Greystones man was in danger of missing out on the weekend action after running up a quadruple bogey nine in his opening 76.

But he surged up the leaderboard, carding seven birdies and a bogey, to get to within six shots of leader Edoardo Molinari of Italy on two-under par.

Molinari put himself in pole position to repeat his 2007 triumph by taking a one shot lead at the halfway point after a 67 left him on eight-under par for the first tournament of the new Challenge Tour campaign.

The elder brother of 2006 Italian Open champion Francesco finished 16th on the 2007 Challenge Tour Rankings after winning twice, in Colombia, where he defeated home favourite Gustavo Mendoza in a play-off, and at the Tusker Kenya Open.

He is now eyeing a swift return to The European Tour and has made a strong start in his quest, moving a stroke clear of Argentine Mauricio Molina, with France’s Jean Billot and Denmark’s Soren Juul a further shot back on six under par.

Lurgan's Gareth Shaw slipped to a 74 that relegated him from seventh to tied 32nd on one-under par as Colm Moriarty and Noel Fox missed the cut.

Moriarty carded a 73 to miss the level par cut by six shots with Fox eight shots outside the mark after a 79.

Leading second round scores  

136 E Molinari  (Ita) 69 67 137 M Molina (Arg) 70 67

138 J Billot (Fra) 69 69, S Juul (Den) 71 67

139 J Guerrier  (Fra) 69 70, R Ruiz (Col) 68 71, A Wagner (Arg) 68 71, J Zapata (Arg) 69 70

140 L Kennedy  (Eng) 70 70, M Tullo (Chi) 70 70, D Olsen (USA) 73 67, A Rauhut (Col) 70 70, L De Jager  (RSA) 70 70, B Alvarado (Chi) 71 69, J Luna(am) (Col) 69 71 141 J Abbate (Arg) 71 70, J Little  (Eng) 70 71, J Gil (Arg) 73 68

142 D Vanegas (Col) 67 75, M Haastrup  (Den) 67 75, A Adrian (Ven) 71 71, W Rodriguez (Arg) 69 73, M Martinez (Ven) 72 70, A McArthur  (Sco) 71 71, O Floren  (Swe) 71 71, Alan Murray (Irl) 76 66, L Westerberg (Swe) 72 70, M Guzman (Arg) 69 73, N Bollini  (USA) 70 72, J Morrison  (Eng) 71 71, M Villegas (Col) 72 70 

143 Gareth Shaw (NIr) 69 74

Missed cut

150 Colm Moriarty (Irl) 77 73

152 Noel Fox (Irl) 73 79