Millicent’s Brian Doran continued his fine run of form to grab a share of the lead heading into the final two rounds of the Mullingar Men’s Scratch Trophy.

Doran (pictured above by Golffile) is tied at the top with Fota Island’s David Howard on five-under in the Pinergy and Sherry Fitzgerald / Davitt & Davitt sponsored classic, one ahead of Dooks’ Conor Hickey.

Runner-up in the recent South of Ireland Championship, Doran made eight birdies in an opening 68 before adding four more birdies and an eagle two in difficult conditions in a second-round 71.

“Today was a grind with the wind and the bit of rain that we got,” said Doran.

“In general, overall, I played okay, very good in patches and then couple of little mistakes on other holes, but it was nice to take care of the par fives which you have to do around Mullingar especially 14 and 18 and then also the eagle on six was nice too.

“I hit it to about 15 feet over the flag so it was nice to see that go in for the two.”

He added: “Looking forward to tomorrow. Gained a lot of experience over the last few weeks, especially last week at the South. It didn’t go my way but that’s golf. I'll give it a go again tomorrow and see where that puts us.”

Howard signed for a first-round 71, highlighted by a run of three birdies in a row from the 14th, followed by a 68 in round two which featured closing birdies at the 17th and 18th

The cut fell at five over par with the top 44 qualifying for the final day.

Hickey lies just one shot off the lead after rounds of 69 and 71 with Malahide’s Gavin O’Neill, Nenagh’s David Reddan, Athenry’s Sean O’Connell and former winner Jake Whelan from Grangeis are just two shots off the pace on three-under.

With 14 players on level par or better, it promises to be an exciting final day as the players bid to join Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry on the roll of honour at the James Braid-designed course.

Mullingar Scratch Trophy, sponsored by Pinergy and Sherry Fitzgerald, Davitt & Davitt, Mullingar GC (Par 72)

After 36 holes

Detailed scores

139 Brian Doran (Millicent) 68 71, David Howard (Fota island) 71 68;

140 Conor Hickey (Dooks) 69 71;

141 Sean O’Connell (Athenry) 68 73, Gavin O’Neill (Malahide) 71 70, David Reddan (Nenagh) 71 70, Jake Whelan (Grange) 71 70;

142 Seán McLoughlin (Co. Sligo) 71 71;

143 Thomas Abom (Edmondstown) 71 72, Morgan Cain (Cork) 73 70, Keith Egan (Carton House) 70 73;

144 David Kitt (Athenry) 71 73, Darren McCormack (Corrstown) 74 70, Eoin Sullivan (Portmarnock Golf Club) 73 71;

145 Evan Monaghan (Tullamore) 72 73, Robert Walsh (Douglas) 70 75, Ciaran Murphy (Grange) 75 70, Jordan Boles (Charleville) 75 70, Cathal Penney (Athenry) 76 69, Jack McDonnell (Royal Dublin) 75 70, Dylan Keating (Seapoint) 76 69;

146 Darragh Flynn (Carton House) 73 73, Jamie Larkin (Naas) 74 72, Gavin Tiernan (Co. Louth) 72 74, Colm Hughes (Galway) 77 69, Cormac Ó Muirithe (Belmullet) 74 72, Adam Smith (Mullingar) GC) 73 73;

147 Ross Latimer (Clandeboye) 76 71, Matthew Grehan (Tullamore) 71 76, Rory McConnell (Belvoir Park) 74 73, Ross McKeever (Castle) 73 74, Calum Ward (Carton House) 74 73, Dwayne Mallon (Dungannon) 74 73, Jason Rackard (Bunclody Golf & Fishing Club) 76 71, Graham Donohoe (Enniscorthy) 74 73;

148 Conal Keenan (Belvoir Park) 72 76, Kevin Robinson (Castlewarden) 70 78, David Marshall (Naas) 78 70, Conor Stapleton (Connemara) 76 72, Marc McKinstry (Cairndhu) 74 74, Ross Mc Cormack (Palmerstown House Estate) 73 75, Aaron Marshall (Lisburn) 73 75, Edward Rowe (Belvoir Park) 71 77, Peter O’Keeffe (Douglas) 71 77.

Missed cut

149 Benjamin Oberholzer (Clandeboye) 76 73, Cian Harkin (Letterkenny) 72 77, James Walsh (Douglas) 74 75, Jamie Butler (Naas) 74 75, Liam Abom (Edmondstown) 66 83, Jake Foley (Elm Park) 71 78;

150 Isaac Oliver (Ballinasloe) 75 75, Shane McDermott (Slieve Russell) 71 79, Rory Milne (Faithlegg) 74 76, Charlie Mooney (Ballinasloe) 77 73, Quentin Care (Castleknock) 74 76, Senan Carroll (Ballybunion) 77 73, Luke Kelly (Dunfanaghy) 74 76;

151 Charlie Smyth (PGA National Slieve Russell) 77 74, Darcy Hogg (Belvoir Park) 78 73, Colum Kenny (Portmarnock) 75 76, William Walshe (Delgany) 74 77, Conor Clarke (Balmoral) 74 77, Evan Farrell (Co. Louth) 73 78, James Stenson (The Island) 75 76;

152 Seán Desmond (Monkstown) 75 77, Mikey Mina Ronayne (Mullingar) 80 72, Billy McGarry (Birr) 75 77, Jack Blake (The Island) 74 78, David Shiel (Enniscrone) 74 78;

153 Ciaran Smyth (Ballinasloe) 73 80, Dean O'Riordan (Fermoy) 77 76, Patrick Curran (Edmondstown) 78 75, TJ Ford (Co. Sligo) 75 78, Mark Doogue (Castleknock) 73 80;

154 Ruairi O’Connor (Co. Sligo) 80 74, Thomas Plunkett (Crover House) 78 76, Jonathan Keane (Lahinch) 79 75, Colin Woodroofe (Dun Laoghaire) 76 78;

155 Des Morgan (New Forest) 80 75;

156 Ryan Lyons (Blarney) 81 75;

157 David Keenaghan (Mullingar) 72 85;

160 Gareth Bohill (Co. Louth) 82 78, John Brady (Rosslare) 82 78, David O’Malley (Black Bush) 81 79;

161 Ian O’Connell (Castleknock) 77 84, Paraic McGrath (Galway Bay) 79 82;

163 Gareth Carr (Mullingar) 81 82;

WD Sean Murphy (Grange) WD, Eoin Murphy (Dundalk) 77 WD, Simon Walker (Roscommon) 82 WD.