By Brian Keogh

Paul McGinley failed to earn a late European Open reprieve - despite an early trip to the airport.

Last season the Dubliner sat in departures before having his bags removed from the plane home to London as he scraped in for the weekend.

But after a second successive 71 left him hovering on the cut line at two over par, he flew out just after 6pm.

The Ryder Cup hero knew he had little chance of making the weekend after another disappointing display and so it proved as he missed out by one shot.

He groaned: "It's a sob story lads. Another sob story. Things aren’t going for me obviously. I’m not playing very well but nothing’s going for me either.

"I hit one bad shot today and it’s unplayable. I’m not getting away with anything but when things are going against you, that’s the way it is."

That bad shot came at the first hole, McGinley's 10th, where he pulled his approach into deep rough and could only slash the ball forward into a muddy lie.

A double bogey there left him on two over par and he failed to make any putts coming home.

McGinley added: "The bottom line is I can’t blame luck, I can’t blame anything. I’ve had eight birdies in two days and I’ve shot two-over par.

"That’s not a good-enough professional standard. I can’t blame the draw, I can’t blame anything.

"If I knew what it the problem was I’d fix it. I don’t know. I don’t know. We’re working on it.

"I hit the last seven greens basically and didn’t make a putt. Nothing was going in the hole."

There was a similar story for fellow Dub Peter Lawrie as he missed out by two shots despite a brave 68.

Seven over par after just eight holes on Thursday, he rallied to play the next 13 holes in seven under to get back to level.

But a bogey at the 15th and a double at the 16th killed his chances.

Damien McGrane , Simon Thornton, Michael Hoey and Philip Walton also missed out.