Ballymena’s Dermot McElroy recovered from three bogeys in his first six holes to make the cut and move onto the fringes of contention in the Challenge Tour’s Terre dei Consoli Open.

Having failed to get through the First Stage of the Qualifying School by a stroke, the 23-year old rookie showed in Italy that he’s got no shortage of talent or determination.

Four birdies in seven holes from the ninth saw him card a second successive 71 at Monterosi near Rome, moving him up to tied 10th on two under par, six strokes behind Victor Riu and Aaron Rai.

Kevin Phelan began his day with a quadruple bogey nine but having fought back to one over for the day with an eagle three at the 15th, he bogeyed the 16th and doubled the 17th before a final hole birdie left him agonisingly, one short of the cut mark on two over after a 76,

Rosapenna’s Ruaidhri McGee shot his second 76 on the trot to miss the cut by seven shots.

Scores after round 2:

136 V Riu (Fra) 67 69, J Lima (Por) 67 69, A Rai (Eng) 70 66, R Enoch (Wal) 65 71,

137 J Heath (Eng) 69 68,

139 H Joannes (Bel) 70 69, R Coles (Eng) 67 72,

140 J Glennemo (Swe) 68 72, J Sjöholm (Swe) 71 69, M Wallace (Eng) 68 72, J Edfors (Swe) 70 70, M Orrin (Eng) 68 72, A Björk (Swe) 70 70, F Mruzek (Cze) 69 71,

141 D Stewart (Sco) 71 70, P Widegren (Swe) 71 70, P Relecom (Bel) 72 69, A Bernadet (Fra) 71 70, B Poke (Den) 69 72, M Søgaard (Den) 69 72, M Lafeber (Ned) 72 69, C Blomstrand (Swe) 70 71, J Makitalo (Fin) 70 71, J Girrbach (Sui) 72 69, M Ortolani (Ita) 69 72,

142 P Whiteford (Sco) 69 73, M Wiegele (Aut) 74 68, J Doherty (Sco) 70 72, S Brown (Eng) 71 71, B Rusch (Sui) 72 70, T Remkes (Ned) 73 69, Dermot McElroy (Nir) 71 71, J Senior (Eng) 70 72, D Law (Sco) 69 73, C Ford (Eng) 69 73, 

143 J Barnes (Eng) 73 70, F Bergamaschi (Ita) 77 66, D Perrier (Fra) 72 71, A Zemmer (Ita) 70 73, A Pavan (Ita) 69 74, S Kim (USA) 70 73, N Cullen (Aus) 74 69, M Ovesen (Den) 68 75,

144 J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 71 73, P Shields (Sco) 69 75, A Velasco (Esp) 70 74, N Geyger (Chi) 73 71, R Santos (Por) 71 73, A Ahokas (Fin) 74 70, G Axell (Swe) 73 71, M Schneider (Ger) 74 70, K Samooja (Fin) 76 68, D Van Driel (Ned) 76 68, C Bouniol (Fra) 70 74, A Karlsson (Swe) 72 72,

145 M Kinhult (Swe) 74 71, S Hutsby (Eng) 74 71, S Henry (Sco) 71 74, R Langasque (Fra) 73 72, S Hodgson (Eng) 69 76, S Fernandez (Esp) 75 70, D Gaunt (Aus) 71 74, M Delpodio (Ita) 71 74, B Hellgren (Swe) 75 70, N Ravano (Ita) 76 69, J Guerrier (Fra) 75 70, J Sarasti (Esp) 68 77, S Pitoni (Ita) 76 69, L Cianchetti (am) (Ita) 75 70,

CUT

146 D Lloyd (RSA) 75 71, T Murray (Eng) 71 75, Kevin Phelan (Irl) 70 76, R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 74 72, P Mejow (Ger) 76 70, J Cafourek (Cze) 74 72, R Kind (Ned) 76 70, J White (Eng) 77 69, C Terragni (Ita) 72 74,

147 C Sordet (Fra) 72 75, M Crespi (Ita) 71 76, E Dubois (Fra) 74 73, M Nixon (Eng) 74 73, P Oriol (Esp) 75 72, P Howard (Eng) 74 73, J Dantorp (Swe) 77 70, J Carlota (Por) 73 74,

148 S Soderberg (Swe) 75 73, W Harrold (Eng) 69 79, P Maddy (Eng) 74 74, E Cuartero Blanco (Esp) 76 72, L Motta (Ita) 74 74, T Lawrence (RSA) 73 75, A Rota (Ita) 75 73, J Lara (Esp) 76 72, A Saracino (am) (Ita) 75 73,

149 G King (Eng) 76 73, J Lando Casanova (Fra) 73 76, A Hartø (Den) 77 72, M Armitage (Eng) 74 75, S Connor (Eng) 74 75, M Tullo (Chi) 75 74, O Farr (Wal) 69 80, L Gagli (Ita) 77 72,

150 C Del Moral (Esp) 75 75, S Jeppesen (Swe) 74 76, J Loughrey (Eng) 78 72,

151 T Pulkkanen (Fin) 76 75, G Porteous (Eng) 75 76,

152 G Piris Mateu (Esp) 77 75, Ruaidhri McGee (Irl) 76 76, B Reiter (Aut) 80 72, G Migliozzi (am) (Ita) 78 74, K Varli (am) (Tur) 75 77,

153 C Mivis (Bel) 73 80, J Ballesteros (Esp) 79 74, N Quintarelli (Ita) 73 80,

155 R Molnar (Aut) 75 80, M Cea (am) (Ita) 75 80,

156 D Pietzsch (Ger) 80 76,

158 J Shim (am) (Tur) 80 78