<p>Liam Nolan is joint-top of the standings at County Sligo Golf Club. Photo: Thos Caffrey / Golffile.</p>
Galway’s Liam Nolan is looking forward to battling close friend and fellow Walker Cup star Matt McClean this weekend after they snatched the halfway lead in the Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open Championship at Co Sligo.
“It beats the library, so I’ll take it any day and hopefully a bit more of the nice weather and we’ll have a great weekend,” said Nolan, who matched Malone star McClean and carded a three-under 68 in glorious Rosses Point weather to leave them two shots clear on eight-under-par of Berehaven’s Joe O’Neill.
“It’s just nice to have someone out there playing really good as well, you can feed off. It’s not overly serious this part of the tournament I mean we are only halfway through now so a lot can happen but it’s definitely nice to be playing some good stuff heading into the weekend.”
Despite the beautiful weather, just 15 players are in the red at halfway with 132 players battling to make the top 50 and ties who will make Saturday’s 54-hole cut.
County Louth schoolboy Gavin Tiernan added a 72 to his first-round 65 to sit alone in fourth behind O’Neill, who followed his opening 67 with a 69 to set the pace at six under before being overhauled by Nolan and McClean in the afternoon.
<img alt="" height="800" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52780078e4b0782c048f31cb/d2a2bd32-38dd-444d-a6e9-affd855c166e/Flogas+IMAC+2024+DL100415.JPG?format=1000w" width="1200" />
<p>Matt McClean is also top of the Flogas Irish Men's Amateur Open Championship leaderboard. Photo: David Lloyd / Golffile.</p>
Co Sligo’s TJ Ford remains in contention on three-under after a 71, tied for fifth with Welshman Tom Matthews while recently crowned West of Ireland champion Keith Egan from Carton House lies just six shots off the lead.
Nolan birdied the first, eagled the third and birdied the sixth as he turned in 32 en route to his 68, McClean came home in 32 to match him with a dropped shot at the 15th erased by birdies at the 10th, 11th, 16th and 18th,
“We’ve been playing golf for the last three years in the Ireland team and obviously played a lot together, so we enjoy each other’s company out there,” said McClean.
“He’s playing very well, he got off to a really hot start today, so I was just trying to keep up with him really on the way around there and luckily made a few putts on the way in.
“Tied going into tomorrow, but still 36 holes to go, and there’s obviously plenty of other guys in the field, so just be trying to do more of the same and stay aggressive with the approach shots and putts, and we’ll see where we are after tomorrow evening.”
Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open, County Sligo GC (Par 71)
After 36 holes
134 Liam Nolan (Galway) 66 68, Matthew McClean (Malone) 66 68;
136 Joe O’Neill (Berehaven) 67 69;
137 Gavin Tiernan (Co. Louth) 65 72;
139 TJ Ford (Co. Sligo) 68 71, Tom Matthews (Wal) 71 68;
140 Luke Kelly (Dunfanaghy) 70 70, Keith Egan (Carton House) 69 71, Gregor Tait Aldeburgh (Sco) 69 71, Max Weaver (Wal) 70 70, Matthew Wilson (Sco) 73 67, Shane McDermott (Slieve Russell) 72 68;
141 Frederik Dortmans (Eng) 71 70, David Howard (Fota Island) 70 71, David Tomi (Cze) 69 72;
142 Rory Gallagher (Galway Bay) 74 68;
143 Adam Smith (Mullingar) 70 73, Sean Keeling (Roganstown) 70 73, Daniel Bennett (RSA) 74 69, David Kitt (Athenry) 70 73, Fionn Dobbin (Malone) 71 72, Jamie Butler (Naas) 71 72, Hugh Foley (Royal Dublin) 70 73, Michael Roche
(Eng) 73 70;
144 Colm Hughes (Castle) 72 72, Sam Mukherjee (Sco) 70 74, Aaron Marshall (Lisburn) 71 73, Peter O’Keeffe (Douglas) 75 69, Scott Mann (Sco) 73 71, Jake Whelan (Grange) 69 75, Jack McDonnell (Royal Dublin) 69 75, Caolan Rafferty (Dundalk) 73 71, Gregor Graham (Sco) 69 75, Ruairi O’Connor (Co. Sligo) 68 76, Jonathan Keane (Lahinch) 75 69;
145 Gary Collins (Rosslare) 71 74, Sean Cooper (Enniscorthy) 73 72, Jack Hearn (Tramore) 72 73, James Fox (Portmarnock) 74 71, Harry Gillivan (Portmarnock) 72 73, James Stenson (The Island) 73 72, Ryan Griffin (Ballybofey) 71 74, Cian O’Connor (Roscommon) 73 72, David Reddan (Nenagh) 73 72, Edward Reed (Eng) 72 73;
146 Mark Doogue (Castleknock) 71 75, Andrew Mulholland (Castlerock) 75 71, Quentin Carew (Castleknock) 73 73, Richard Knightly (Royal Dublin) 73 73, John Doyle (Fota Island) 78 68, James Temple (Portmarnock) 74 72, Eoin Murphy (Dundalk) 75 71, Dominic McGlinchey (Sco) 73 73, Morgan Cain (Cork) 71 75, Graham Donohoe (Enniscorthy) 70 76, Darragh Flynn (Carton House) 74 72, Ryan Williams (Wal) 74 72;
147 Scott Spark (Sco) 73 74, Oscar Murphy (Royal Portrush) 73 74, Jake Foley (Elm Park) 73 74, Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint) 68 79, Robert Galligan (Elm Park) 76 71, Christian Johnson (Eng) 75 72, Aodhagan Brady (Co. Sligo) 74 73;
148 Thomas Abom (Edmondstown) 73 75, Shea Dorman (Bangor) 73 75, Charlie Smyth (PGA National Slieve Russell) 73 75, Cian Harkin (Letterkenny) 75 73, Paul Coughlan (Castleknock) 73 75, Mark Gazi (Tralee) 77 71, James Hewitt (Tandragee) 73 75, Sean Reddy (Douglas) 73 75, Ross Laird (Sco) 74 74, Dwayne Mallon (Dungannon) 74 74;
149 Sean Murphy (Grange) 74 75, Conor Hickey (Dooks) 76 73, Adam Scott (Sco) 75 74, Oliver Mukherjee (Sco) 74 75, Jacob Kelso (Eng) 73 76, Liam Abom (Edmondstown) 76 73, Allan Hill (Roscommon) 75 74, Sean Flanagan (Portmarnock) 74 75, Ben Best (Rathmore) 74 75;
150 Alyx Murray (Sco) 71 79, Gordon Sillett (Ballykisteen) 76 74, Seamus Cullen (Slieve Russell) 75 75, Dylan Kayne (RSA) 77 73, Theo Baker (Wal) 74 76, Lewis Gowdy (Bangor) 77 73, Simon Walker (Roscommon) 74 76, Robbie Cannon (Balbriggan) 74 76, Caolan Burford (Wal) 77 73, Julius Sommer (SUI) 72 78, David Brady (Straffan) 73 77;
151 Ryan McNelis (Fintona) 76 75, Brodie Cunningham (Sco) 74 77, Andrew Benson (Sco) 73 78, Paul Carey (Nenagh) 78 73;
152 Eoin Sullivan (Portmarnock) 79 73, Seán McLoughlin (Co. Sligo) 73 79, Rory McConnell (Belvior Park) 78 74, Paraic Connolly (The Links Portmarnock) 73 79, Jordan Boles (Charleville) 77 75, Evan Farrell (Co. Louth) 79 73;
153 Miles Gray (Eng) 75 78, Colin Smith (Co. Sligo) 79 74, Mark Cadden (Roganstown) 78 75, Conor Stapleton (Connemara) 80 73, Adam Allahbachani (Powerscourt) 73 80, Ross McCormack (Palmerstown House Estate) 74 79, Robert Walsh (Douglas) 79 74, Benjamin Oberholzer (Clandeboye) 71 82, John Tandberg (SUI) 82 71;
154 Edward Rowe (Belvoir Park) 78 76, Ross Nelson (Belvoir Park) 75 79, David Marshall (Naas) 78 76, Simon Austin (AUT) 75 79, Donnacha Cleary (Tipperary) 79 75;
155 Marc Norton (Belvoir Park) 78 77, Darryl Gwilliam (Eng) 73 82, Adam Buchanan (Royal Portrush) 75 80, Alexander Farmer (Sco) 77 78;
156 Lorcan O’Connor (Edmondstown) 75 81, Alex Jaap (Wal) 81 75, Robbie Hynes (Royal Dublin) 83 73;
157 Aidan Dooley (Carton House) 76 81, Sean David (Wal) 81 76, Samuel Gammell (Naas) 77 80;
158 Kevin Robinson (Castlewarden) 79 79;
159 Aaron Foley (Edmondstown) 82 77;
161 Lucas McKeen (Co. Louth) 78 83;
162 Finn Coull (Sco) 79 83, Jake Adler (Nenagh) 75 87, Luke Harris (Hermitage) 90 72;
WD Paul O’Hanlon (Carton House) 72 WD, Marc McKinstry (Cairndhu) 75 WD, Ross Latimer (Clandeboye) 77 WD, Dean O' Riordan (Fermoy) 81 WD.
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