Ballymena’s Dermot McElroy produced a magical short game display to lead the home challenge in the Irish Challenge at a wet and windy Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links.

The former West of Ireland champion (27) was superb around the greens as he added a three-under 68 to his opening 70 to share third play on for-under par.

He sits alone in third place, just two shots behind England’s Gary King, whose two-under 69 gave him a one-shot lead over first-round leader Alfredo Garcia Heredia on six-under.

Holywood’s 18-year-old Tom McKibbin shot 73 and his first cut in his fourth start as a professional to sit alone in 10th on one-under with Dubliner Cameron Raymond (74) tied 11th with Michael Hoey (71) on level par as ten of the 28-strong home contingent made the four-over cut.

It was another tough day at the Bernhard Langer designed links, and leader King (30) was happy to finish his round in style,

“I am very pleased,” said King. “It was nice to finish the round off with a birdie on 18, having birdied 16 as well, so lunch is going to taste that bit sweeter. I’m sitting in a good spot, so hopefully, I can continue the good form into tomorrow.”

The 2016 Montecchia Open by Lyoness winner used his links experience and emphasised the importance of approach play into the greens. He will be hoping to take his momentum into the weekend and claim a second Challenge Tour title whilst also gaining vital points to rise up the Road to Mallorca Rankings.

“I’ve hit a lot of good approach shots, and that has been the key to not making bogeys for me over the two days.

“If you are hitting your irons well, then you can keep bogeys off the card, but there are so many runoffs around the greens that if you short-side yourself, you are almost certainly going to make a bogey. It is the approach play that has to be strong in order to keep bogeys off the card.”

There is plenty of experience behind the leaders with two-time Challenge Tour winner Borja Virto in fourth place on three-under-par, while two-time Challenge Tour champion Daan Huizing, young Spaniard Eduard Rousaud, Englishman Andrew Wilson, Iceland's Gudmundur Kristjansson and Germany's Yannik Paul, all sit tied fifth on two under par.

McElroy made four birdies and a bogey in the second-best round of the day as he was joined for the weekend by Stuart Grehan (2 over); Simon Thornton, Paul McBride and Conor O'Rourke (3-over); and Gavin Moynihan and James Sugrue (4-over).

"It was a bit of a grind," McElroy said. |It was hard to play golf out there, but I was happy with the way I was holing out around the greens.

"I was either putting it or chipping it really close, and my short game was really good in general.

"It's very tough into the wind, especially into off the left, which I would struggle with personally. Most of the back nine is into the wind, and some of the front nine is into the wind, so it's playing really tricky.

"I'm looking forward to the weekend. I checked the weather, and it's meant to be a bit calmer tomorrow, so maybe I will have to adjust what I'm doing, but I am quite happy with the way I'm in playing."

Artane man Raymond was level for the day with six to play, but while he dropped three shots coming home, he was pleased with his position after a grinding 74.

"It was pretty tough out there with the rain, and the wind and I played OK on the font," Raymond said. "But then I came home in an ambulance. I just couldn't find a fairway on the back nine."

As for his expectations, he said: "I didn't really have any. I only got in on Friday, so I was just rocking up and playing and trying to enjoy myself.

"With the weather being bad, it suited me a bit. I know this place in these conditions, so I had a bit of an advantage. So it's nice to be there."

It was a positive day also for local men Paul McBride and Gavin Moynihan as they made the weekend on three and four-over, respectively.

"I played well for both rounds but finished with two bogeys there," McBride said after his 72. "It was a bit annoying to drop a couple of shots coming in.

"On 18, I hit a decent enough shot into a bunker and a good shot on 17 that came up about a foot short and rolled back down.

"I was happy enough, especially with the conditions when it was raining and windy this morning. I am happy enough, so hopefully, I get through to the weekend.

"I am used to playing in that weather. I am from The Island, which is just over the water. I am used to playing in that sort of cold, windy conditions.

I can control my ball flight fairly well. I just react to the shot that I have and try to hit the shot I'm trying to hit."

Asked the key to good links golf, he said: "think it's important to be able to control your ball flight because if you're into the wind and you want to hit one low, and you end up hitting it high, there is such a huge dispersion in the distance the ball is going.

"So I think distance control is fairly key whether that be downwind where you have to get a nice and high and soft or into the wind where you have to drive one with a little less spin."

The man from the Island is disappointed the event is being played behind closed doors, but he is happy to be in for the weekend.

"It would be great if there were crowds," he said. "I was saying it to Gavin this morning. Myself, Gavin and Conor Purcell we're all in a row playing out there today, and we're all from around the area. So we'd have had a nice group out following, but there were still a few from the club hiding behind the fences watching a few shots."

His fellow clubman Moynihan has endured a miserable run of form over the past six months, but he's also happy to be in for the weekend and hopes to build some confidence.

"It was much better today and not too dissimilar to yesterday," Moynihan said. "I just made a few bad mistakes on the way in yesterday, but the start was very tough with a lot of rain and a lot of wind, and a crosswind as well.

"I played lovely. I just had one bad swing on 18. It wasn't even a bad swing; it just ran into a bunker, and I made a bogey there for level par today.

"It's gonna be very tight for the cut but still a lot of positive signs the last two or three events. I got the tough side of the draw, as I was saying to a few lads.

"I had no expectations at all. I'm just trying to find some form, really. I've been struggling the last six or seven months with scoring. My ball-striking is actually improving. My short game has let me down the last while, so I'm trying to get that back to where it normally is.

"I'm just trying to enjoy the week. Obviously, it's a home event. The form hasn't been there, so just hopefully get two more rounds over the weekend, and I can try and move up the board and get some more rounds under my belt and see how we can go.

"It's a pity there are no crowds. It would've been a big one, too, with a lot of people in the field from Malahide and Portmarnock.

"It's a sports town, so hopefully it can come back here in the next few years because it deserves it and the course is very good, and the crowds would be great. Hopefully, we can have them next year."

Former Amateur champion Sugrue did well to make the cut as he double-bogeyed his 16th hole but then made two good pars to finish.

"I was going along nicely through 13 or 14 holes, and we got put on the clock on the fourth, and I got very unlucky on the next," the Cork man explained.

"I was a foot outside the bunker, and I had no shot. So I gripped halfway down a driver and just punched it up there, and it trickled into one of the other bunkers, 60 yards out with water out the back.

"It wasn't an easy bunker shot, but I hit it on the green and three-putted, so that was a double out of nowhere. Then on the next, I hit it in another fairway bunker, and I was up the lip, and so I had to go out sideways. I ended up making a good par, but it was a weird one.

"Our first nine holes were grim, but I played the par threes well and made two twos. So I am hitting it well, but looking at the way I scored, I didn't think I deserved to make the cut.

"But I will go at it again tomorrow, and I will be a little freer, and I will where I am at."

Irish Challenge, Portmarnock Links, Co. Dublin (Par 71)

Scores

136 G King (Eng) 67 69,

137 A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 64 73,

138 Dermot McElroy (Nir) 70 68,

139 B Virto (Esp) 68 71,

140 G Kristjansson (Isl) 69 71, A Wilson (Eng) 72 68, E Rousaud (Esp) 71 69, D Huizing (Ned) 71 69, Y Paul (Ger) 69 71,

141 Tom McKibbin (Nir) 68 73,

142 F Lacroix (Fra) 75 67, A Knappe (Ger) 70 72, N Kristensen (Den) 72 70, Cameron Raymond (Irl) 68 74, U Coussaud (Fra) 72 70, Michael Hoey (Nir) 71 71, B Rusch (Sui) 73 69, J Lando Casanova (Fra) 72 70, B Schmidt (Eng) 71 71,

143 D Gavins (Eng) 72 71, J Brun (Fra) 71 72, V Riu (Fra) 72 71, M Manassero (Ita) 74 69, B Windred (Aus) 71 72, R Gouveia (Por) 72 71, M Gradecki (Pol) 73 70, M Lundberg (Swe) 71 72,

144 H Ellis (Eng) 74 70, D Boote (Wal) 72 72, J Dantorp (Swe) 71 73, Stuart Grehan (Irl) 71 73, D Hillier (Nzl) 72 72, C Mivis (Bel) 72 72,

145 Simon Thornton (Irl) 74 71, B Moore (Eng) 73 72, Paul McBride (Irl) 73 72, D Young (Sco) 68 77, C Ross (Sco) 74 71, F Palson (Swe) 68 77, Conor O'Rourke (Irl) 72 73, K Reitan (Nor) 69 76, D Borda (Esp) 70 75, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 72 73, M Elvira (Esp) 72 73, J Girrbach (Sui) 73 72, A Zemmer (Ita) 74 71, N McCarthy (Eng) 72 73, J Paul (Ger) 73 72,

146 M Fenasse (Fra) 72 74, M Orrin (Eng) 74 72, Gavin Moynihan (Irl) 75 71, S Tiley (Eng) 77 69, S Gros (Fra) 73 73, O Gillberg (Swe) 78 68, O Hundeboll (Den) 72 74, H Arkenau (Ger) 74 72, J Arnoy (Nor) 72 74, James Sugrue (Irl) 72 74, R De Sousa (Sui) 73 73, C Berardo (Fra) 75 71, E Di Nitto (Ita) 73 73, R Williams (Am) (Eng) 73 73,

CUT

147 J Jones (Can) 74 73, L Johnston (Sco) 76 71, R Van West (Ned) 74 73, C Hanna (USA) 73 74, B Hellgren (Swe) 72 75, M Galiano Aguilar (Esp) 70 77,

148 Tim Rice (Irl) 76 72, M Lindberg (Swe) 77 71, Shane Franklin (Irl) 74 74, N Fenwick (Sco) 74 74, B Neil (Sco) 75 73, J Fahrbring (Swe) 76 72, Rowan Lester (Am) (Irl) 73 75, F Bergamaschi (Ita) 75 73, S Forsstrom (Swe) 76 72, J Freiburghaus (Sui) 73 75, E Walker (Sco) 74 74, M Bullen (Eng) 70 78,

149 S Gregory (Eng) 71 78, Caolan Rafferty (Am) (Irl) 76 73, D Perrier (Fra) 77 72, D Lawson (Aus) 74 75, M Wiegele (Aut) 76 73, S Tarrio (Esp) 78 71, G Boyd (Eng) 78 71, Marc Boucher (Am) (Irl) 78 71, E Bertheussen (Nor) 73 76, L Lipold (Aut) 74 75, G Bourdy (Fra) 76 73, E Cuartero Blanco (Esp) 72 77, J Garcia Del Moral (Esp) 74 75, P Edberg (Swe) 74 75, S Broadhurst (Eng) 74 75,

150 M Lampert (Ger) 77 73, Colm Moriarty (Irl) 74 76, Gary Hurley (Irl) 78 72, L Nemecz (Aut) 76 74, Conor Purcell (Irl) 73 77, S Henry (Sco) 76 74, M Svensson (Swe) 74 76, Peter O'Keeffe (Am) (Irl) 76 74, Jonathan Yates (Irl) 76 74, Michael Dallat (Nir) 74 76, D Walkley (Eng) 72 78, Ronan Mullarney (Irl) 74 76,

151 J Bekirian (Fra) 76 75, J Andersen (Den) 79 72, Simon Bryan (Irl) 78 73, V Osterby (Den) 77 74, R Petersson (Swe) 76 75, R Lumsden (Sco) 73 78, A Hietala (Fin) 72 79, S Fernandez (Esp) 76 75, M Lamb (Eng) 75 76, J Maurer (Aut) 74 77, C Farr (Eng) 76 75,

152 O Farrell (Eng) 79 73, A Eineving (Swe) 77 75, E Dubois (Fra) 74 78, A Blomme (Swe) 77 75, John Ross Galbraith (Nir) 78 74, J Svensson (Swe) 76 76, J Kahlos (Fin) 75 77, J Ballesteros (Esp) 73 79, Robin Dawson (Irl) 75 77, I Cantero Gutierrez (Esp) 75 77, C Cannon (Eng) 71 81,

153 P Langfors (Swe) 78 75, G Bloor (Eng) 78 75, F Nilehn (Swe) 77 76, L Vacarisas (Esp) 73 80, M Honkala (Fin) 79 74, M Carlsson (Swe) 76 77, M Ortolani (Ita) 80 73,

154 T Koivisto (USA) 74 80, A Plant (Eng) 75 79,

155 M Hirmer (Ger) 79 76, F Maccario (Ita) 73 82,

156 D Quinones (USA) 84 72, E Lipparelli (Ita) 78 78, P Geerts (Ita) 80 76, Daniel Mulligan (Irl) 76 80,

157 M Penge (Eng) 81 76, M Murray (USA) 81 76,

158 Brendan McCarroll (Irl) 80 78,

160 D Kemmer (USA) 78 82,

161 J Kunzenbacher (Ger) 84 77,

164 Brendan Walton (Irl) 84 80,

Out L Northwood (Gbr) 78 Rt, S Del Val (Esp) 80 Wd,