Peter O'Keeffe fired a brilliant 68 and Simon Thornton a second successive 70 to keep Welshman Stuart Manley in their sights at the halfway mark of the Telenet Trophy at Royal Waterloo.

Manley recovered from a double bogey on the third hole to post three under par 69 and lead by a shot from Frenchman François Calmels on nine under par.

Simon ThorntonBut O'Keeffe and Thornton are lurking just five shots off the pace on four under par with Noel Fox, Gareth Shaw and Colm Moriarty the only other Irishmen to make the cut.

Manley, 30, is looking to boost his confidence ahead of next week’s Celtic Manor Wales Open after a slow start to the season on The European Tour.

But there are no such distractions for O'Keeffe and Thornton, who are bidding to earn their European Tour cards by finishing inside the top 20 in the Challenge Tour rankings at the end of the season.

It was also a good day for former Walker Cup star Fox, who made his first cut of the season after two European Tour and four Challenge Tour starts.

The 35 year old carded a one under par 71 - just his second sub par round this term - to make the cut with a shot to spare.

Lurgan's Shaw did well to card a three-over par 75 after starting with three successive bogeys but he did enough to make the weekend on the one-over par limit alongside Moriarty, who had a level par 72 that featured an eagle, two birdies and four bogeys.

Stephen Grant, Michael McGeady and Alan Murray missed the cut.

Telenet Trophy, Royal Waterloo (par 72)

135 S Manley (Wal) 66 69,

136 F Calmels  (Fra) 67 69,

137 A Butterfield (Eng) 70 67,

138 C Rodiles (Esp) 67 71, R Coles (Eng) 71 67,

139 A Tampion  (Aus) 71 68, D Nouailhac (Fra) 69 70, S Walker (Eng) 70 69,

 140 P Purhonen (Fin) 68 72, Peter O'Keeffe  (Irl) 72 68, R Swane  (Ned) 66 74, R McEvoy  (Eng) 69 71, N Colsaerts  (Bel) 73 67, J Etulain  (Arg) 71 69, R Muntz (Ned) 69 71, Simon Thornton (Irl) 70 70, R Steiner (Aut) 70 70,

141 C Russo (Fra) 74 67, R Russell (Sco) 70 71, M Tullo (Chi) 71 70, B Pettersson (Swe) 71 70, J Clément  (Sui) 71 70, M Kramer  (Ger) 72 69, J Abbate (Arg) 70 71, G Paddison (Nzl) 68 73,

142 A McArthur  (Sco) 70 72, F Praegant (Aut) 68 74, O David  (Fra) 70 72, J Arruti (Esp) 69 73, J Ruth  (Eng) 71 71,

143 A Bruschi  (Ita) 71 72, T Cruz  (Por) 76 67, B Evans  (Eng) 70 73, C Carranza  (Arg) 72 71, F Andersson Hed (Swe) 73 70, D Griffiths  (Eng) 74 69, C Gane (Eng) 68 75,

144 M Morris (Eng) 69 75, J Larsen  (Nor) 73 71, J Wahlqvist (Swe) 70 74, J Lima  (Por) 73 71, T Whitehouse  (Eng) 69 75, T Feyrsinger  (Aut) 74 70, Noel Fox  (Irl) 73 71, L Westerberg (Swe) 71 73, B Hafthorsson (Isl) 71 73, J Colomo  (Esp) 75 69, C Günther (Ger) 72 72, V Riu  (Fra) 69 75, M Wiegele  (Aut) 71 73, P Bocian  (Swe) 70 74, M Jurgensen  (Den) 74 70, A Gee  (Eng) 71 73, L Saltman (Sco) 71 73, S Henry  (Sco) 70 74, A Hansen  (Den) 72 72, D Ulrich (Sui) 72 72,

145 B Etchart  (Esp) 75 70, C Suneson (Esp) 77 68, Gareth Shaw (Nir) 70 75, K Brink (Swe) 73 72, A Marshall (Eng) 70 75, A Ahokas (Fin) 73 72, S Jeppesen  (Swe) 72 73, Colm Moriarty (Irl) 73 72, P Gustafsson (Swe) 74 71, R De Sousa (Sui) 73 72, B Hebert  (Fra) 77 68, A Haindl (RSA) 76 69, A Högberg (Swe) 73 72, A Wagner (Arg) 71 74, S Robinson  (Eng) 71 74

Missed the cut

146 P Baker (Eng) 73 73, B Miarka (Ger) 73 73, F De Vries  (Ned) 74 72, G Molteni (Ita) 69 77, J Moul  (Eng) 72 74, N Vanhootegem (Bel) 77 69, E Molinari  (Ita) 75 71, C Brazillier  (Fra) 73 73, N Joakimides (Fra) 69 77, B Mason  (Eng) 73 73, G Watremez (Bel) 71 75, L Brovold  (Nor) 78 68, S Bebb (Wal) 74 72, I Pyman (Eng) 73 73, A Zanini  (Ita) 72 74, G Gresse  (Bel) 75 71, L James (Eng) 75 71,

147 M Cort (Eng) 74 73, P Relecom  (Bel) 79 68, N Smith  (USA) 75 72, N Meitinger  (Ger) 73 74, G Houston (Wal) 72 75, P Whiteford (Sco) 73 74, S Delagrange (Fra) 75 72, L Bond (Wal) 77 70, J Little  (Eng) 73 74, A Grenier  (Fra) 71 76,

148 J Theunis (Bel) 77 71, J Granberg  (Fin) 76 72, D Küpper (Ger) 75 73, J Morrison  (Eng) 72 76, M Higley (Eng) 74 74, M Zions (Aus) 73 75, M Haastrup  (Den) 74 74, M Rodriguez (Arg) 74 74, M Rominger  (Sui) 73 75, D De Vooght (Bel) 73 75, T De Kesel (Bel) 77 71,

149 R Kind (Ned) 74 75, C Monasterio (Arg) 74 75, J Guerrier  (Fra) 73 76, J Billot (Fra) 75 74, Stephen Grant  (Irl) 75 74, Q De Valensart  (Bel) 72 77, D Van Doren (am) (Bel) 76 73, X Feyaerts (am) (Bel) 75 74,

150 N Maestroni  (Ita) 77 73, J Sjöholm (Swe) 73 77, A Snobeck  (Fra) 77 73, J Quesne  (Fra) 71 79, F Colombo (Ita) 74 76, G Murray  (Sco) 75 75,

151 Michael McGeady (Irl) 73 78, K Sullivan (Wal) 76 75, G Hutcheon (Sco) 77 74, J Bjerhag (Swe) 77 74, A Bernadet  (Fra) 72 79, J Forestier (Fra) 79 72, M Reale (Ita) 77 74, Alan Murray (Irl) 75 76,

152 T Dykes (Wal) 74 78, K Jorgensen  (Den) 77 75, I Garcia (Esp) 78 74, B Wiesberger  (Aut) 75 77, R Hie (Ina) 76 76,

153 J Parron (Esp) 75 78, J Relecom (am) (Bel) 75 78, C Mivis (am) (Bel) 78 75,

154 A Willey (Eng) 80 74, T Pieters (am) (Bel) 75 79,

155 T Carolan (Aus) 78 77, Y Benchetrit (Fra) 76 79, M Griffiths (Wal) 77 78, S Reale (Ita) 80 75,

156 M Willems (Bel) 76 80,

157 D Marmion (Eng) 79 78, L Richard (Bel) 75 82, A Mörk (Fra) 78 79,

160 C Lauwers (am) (Bel) 81 79,

 

 ** J Zapata (Arg) 73 RETD, M Pilkington (Wal) 83 W/D, R Santos  (Por) 74 W/D, A Bossert (Sui) 78 RETD, B Alvarado (Chi) 73 RETD,