Rafferty on course for Slam; Q-School finale
Dundalk's Caolan Rafferty dug deep on the back nine to remain on course to become the first man to complete the career Grand Slam of provincial titles in the North of Ireland Championship at Portstewart.
The former Walker Cup player — winner of the South of Ireland in 2018, the West in 2019 and the East last year — made eight pars and a birdie coming home to card a one-over 72 and share the lead with Carton House's Cathal MacCanna, who also shot 72, heading into today's final 36 holes.
They led by a shot on two under from Huddersfield's Dylan Shaw-Radford (70), Enniscrone's David Shiel (71) and Athenry's David Kitt (72), with Monkstown's Edward Farr (68) a shot further back.
"Hopefully the energy levels stay up and we're able to go around and not collapse in the last few," Rafferety joked. "But around here, it's going to be tough, and you have to keep your head in the game.
"Obviously, there's a nice carrot at the end of it, if you can win it. But I'm not really that caught up in that."
If it was a tough day for the later finishers on a wet and windy Strand Course, where the cut fell at seven over, it was even tougher for Portmarnock's Conor Purcell in the Open de France at Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche.
Struggling to keep his card, an eight-over 79 left him tied for last as England's Marcus Armitage made eight birdies in ten holes in seven-under 64 to lead by two shots from Australia's Min Woo Lee and France's Julien Guerrier.
It was also a poor day for the Irish at the HotelPlanner Tour's Italian Challenge Open at Golf Nazionale in Sutri.
Despite making two double bogeys, Dermot McElroy's one-under 71 left him just inside the top 60 who will make the cut, seven shots behind Lars Van Der Vight.
Jonny Caldwell was 75th on level par, but Liam Nolan's 73 left him 90th with Robert Moran (2-over) and Max Kennedy (4-over) also in danger of missing the cut.
On the LET, Annabel Wilson's two-under 70 left her joint eighth, six shots behind Canada's Anna Huang in the La Sella Open in Alicante, where Lauren Walsh was 28th after a 72.
But at the First Stage of the DP World Tour Q-School, only David Carey and Cormac Sharvin were in position to progress to next month's Second Stage.
Carey's five-under 67 left him fifth on five under in the race to make the top 17 and ties who progress after today's final round at Donnington Grove.
Sharvin's 68 left him joint tenth on five-under with Paul McBride and Tom Dowdall just a shot outside the top 17 on three-under.
At Arlandastad in Sweden, a one-under 69 left Kinsale's John Murphy just four shots outside the top 17 on four over.
North of Ireland Amateur Open, Portstewart (Strand, Par 71)
-2 140 Cathal MacCanna (Carton House) 68 72, Caolan Rafferty (Dundalk) 68 72
-1 141 Dylan Shaw-Radford (Huddersfield) 71 70, David Shiel (Enniscrone) 70 71, David Kitt (Athenry) 69 72
E 142 Edward Farr (Monkstown) 74 68
+1 143 James Hewitt (Tandragee) 71 72, Andrew Mulholland (Castlerock) 70 73
+2 144 Sam Murphy (Portumna) 73 71, Harris Fleming (Galgorm Castle) 71 73
+3 145 Keith Egan (Carton House) 75 70, David Reddan (Castleknock) 74 71, Dylan Keating (Seapoint) 74 71, James Marriott (West Surrey) 73 72, Paddy Quill (Cork) 71 74, Padraig O Dochartaigh (Gweedore) 70 75
+4 146 Ben Willis (Hunstanton) 77 69, Kevin Robinson (Castlewarden) 75 71, Jonathan Keane (Lahinch) 73 73, Harry Fanagan (Milltown) 73 73, Geoff Lenehan (Portmarnock) 71 75, Ollie McEvoy (Ballycastle) 71 75
+5 147 Lee Carew (Chelsfield Lakes) 78 69, William O’Riordan (Greystones) 76 71, Eoin Sullivan (Portmarnock) 76 71, Conor Byers (Langley Park) 73 74, Ryan Griffin (Ballybofey/Stranorlar & Royal Dublin) 70 77
+6 148 Thomas Abom (Edmondstown) 78 70, Liam Abom (Edmondstown) 76 72, Mark Cadden (Roganstown) 74 74, Jack McIlhatton (Massereene) 74 74, Dylan Holmes (Greystones) 73 75, Lewis Gowdy (Bangor) 72 76
+7 149 Conor Hickey (Dooks) 78 71, Cian Harkin (Letterkenny) 78 71, John William Burke (Ballyhaunis) 75 74, Freddie Bracken (Portmarnock) 75 74, Conor Madigan (Kanturk) 74 75, Cormac Ó Muirithe (Belmullet) 73 76, Charlie Smyth (PGA National Slieve Russell) 73 76, Ross McCormack (Palmerstown House Estate) 73 76, Ryan Symington (Lisburn) 71 78
Missed cut
+8 150 Adam Fahey (Portmarnock) 78 72, Allan Kiernan (Forrest Little) 76 74, Bruce MacDonald (Lisburn) 76 74, James Temple (Portmarnock) 74 76, David Howard (Fota Island) 73 77
+9 151 Sean Downes (The Royal Dublin) 77 74, Patrick Martin (Carrick-On-Shannon) 75 76, Sean Reddy (Douglas) 74 77, Conor McCarthy (Headfort) 73 78, Michael Reid (Galgorm Castle) 71 80, David O'Malley (Black Bush) 70 81
+10 152 Conor O’Reilly (Athenry) 78 74, Ross Nelson (Belvoir Park) 78 74, Patrick Jordan (Lurgan) 77 75, Thomas Beaumont (Bangor) 76 76, Barry O’Connell (Douglas) 76 76, William Walshe (Delgany) 75 77, Niklas Scharbauer (Am Habsberg E.V.) 75 77, Luka Rogers (Royal Portrush) 74 78, Adam Barr (Ballymena) 73 79
+11 153 Conor Stapleton (Westport) 79 74, Ross Latimer (Knock) 77 76, Patrick Burke (Foxrock) 76 77, Ross King (Castlerock) 75 78, Harry O Hara (Clandeboye) 74 79, Adam Christie (Castlerock) 73 80
+12 154 Oscar Murphy (Royal Portrush) 84 70, William Beatty (Royal Portrush) 84 70, Jonny Hall (Galgorm Castle) 79 75, Conor Clarke (Balmoral) 78 76, Matthew Kane (Larne) 78 76, Sean Sweeney (Gweedore) 77 77, Matthew Dodd (St.Annes) 77 77, Ben Best (Rathmore) 77 77, David Brady (Straffan) 77 77, Fergal Coyle (Athenry) 76 78
+13 155 Owen Tweed (Willesley Park) 81 74, Barra Lupton Smith (Bray) 80 75, Eanna Mulhare (Birr) 79 76, Felix Haubenschild (Am Habsberg) 77 78, Mark Muldoon (Royal Dublin) 77 78, Jordan Boles (Charleville) 76 79, Dwayne Mallon (Dungannon) 73 82
+14 156 Ben Cahill (Dundalk) 84 72, Andrew Gavin (Black Bush) 76 80, Isaac Oliver (Glasson) 76 80
+15 157 Timothy Jordan (Dungannon) 82 75, Samuel Gammell (Naas) 80 77, Florian Dittrich (Am Habsberg) 78 79, AJ McCabe (Malahide) 77 80, Johnny Heaslip (Ballyclare) 77 80, Harry Morgan (Donabate) 77 80
+16 158 Lorcan O'Connor (Edmondstown) 82 76, Darragh Grehan (Carton House) 80 78, Sean Murphy (Grange) 77 81, James O Rourke (Naas) 75 83
+17 159 Cormac Pearson (Faithlegg) 79 80, William Small (Tandragee) 77 82, Ryan Murray (Balmoral) 75 84, Ted Harman (Balmoral) 74 85
+18 160 James McMaster (Holywood) 82 78, Alex Kerins (Carton House) 80 80, Jamie Anderson (Greystones) 79 81, Conor McErlane (Fortwilliam) 78 82, Brendan Mulgrew (Galgorm Castle) 77 83
+19 161 Benn Napier (Castlerock) 82 79, Shea Dorman (Bangor) 81 80, Glenn McAuley (Dunmurry) 79 82, Daniel Mc Kenna (Co.Louth) 78 83
+22 164 Gavin Duffy (Edenderry) 81 83
+24 166 Sam Kelly (The Island) 86 80, Eoin Rogers (Ardee) 81 85
+29 171 Sean Rooney (Fortwilliam) 83 88
+33 175 James Park (County Sligo) 88 87
NR Aaron Marshall (Lisburn) 82 NR
NR Brendan McKenna (Pollok) 75 NR
NR Gareth Strain (Loughgall) 79 NR
