Boys international Joseph Byrne carded a joint best of the day 68 to move into a share of the lead with a round to play in the Irish Boys U16 Championship at Donabate.

The Baltinglass star’s three-under par effort left him tied at the top on three-under par with joint overnight leader Thomas Higgins from Roscommon, who shot a one-under 70.

They lead by three strokes on three-under 139 from England’s Frank Kennedy with Athlone’s Charlie Kelly alone in fourth on one-over after his 68.

Cregmore Park’s Paraic McGrath, who shared the first round lead with Higgins after an opening 69 shot 75 to share fifth with Castle’s Alex Bolger (69) and Roganstown’s Aaron Murray on two-over.

Kinsale’s James Walsh made the 10-over cut with two shots to spare after a special finish.

The Cork golfer aced the 190-yard, par-three 16th, then birdied the 17th and parred the last to shoot 72 and make the top-50 and ties on 150.

Ulster and Leinster U16 champion Joshua Hill, one of four Irishmen called up for the Jacques Leglise Trophy next week, is tied for 11th on five-over after a second round 76.

Irish Boys U16 Championship, Donabate GC (Par 71)

After 36 holes

Detailed scores

Qualifiers

139 J Byrne (Baltinglass) 71 68, T Higgins (Roscommon) 69 70;

142 F Kennedy (England) 70 72;

143 C Kelly (Athlone) 75 68;

144 A Bolger (Castle) 75 69, A Murray (Roganstown) 73 71, P McGrath (Cregmore Park) 69 75;

145 M O’Sullivan (Ballyneety) 74 71;

146 J Murphy (Douglas) 75 71, B Wilson (Warrenpoint) 71 75;

147 T Abom (Edmondstown) 78 69, Z Collins (Muskerry) 75 72, A Mercie de Soultrait (France) 75 72, L Cunningham (Galway Bay) 74 73, E Simonsen (France) 73 74, J Hill (Galgorm Castle ) 71 76;

148 M Deasy (Lee Valley) 75 73, F Dobbin (Malone) 75 73, M Cully (Royal Tara) 74 74, P Keeling (Roganstown ) 74 74, E Freeman (Naas) 74 74, K Anderson (Galgorm Castle) 73 75, G O'Neill (Malahide) 71 77;

149 E Garvey (Laytown & Bettystown) 77 72, D Lally (Blainroe) 76 73, A Byrne (Waterford) 75 74, J Strang (Royal Portrush) 74 75, D Hogg (Belvoir Park) 74 75, P Ulmrich (Germany) 72 77;

150 M Sandoz (Wales) 79 71, J Walsh (Kinsale ) 78 72, D Strachan (France) 78 72, E Cassidy (Kinsale) 78 72, J Foley (Elm Park) 76 74, P Ó Dochartaigh (Gweedore) 76 74, D McNicholl (Westmanstown) 75 75, T Lanigan (Carton House) 75 75, E McArthur (Royal Portrush) 73 77, L Lyons (Limerick) 71 79;

151 J Quinn (Castle) 78 73, H Griesheimer (Germany) 76 75, B Hanratty (Donabate) 75 76, B St John (Portmarnock) 74 77, L Abom (Edmondstown) 73 78, C O'Connor (Roscommon) 72 79, C Mons (Germany) 71 80;

152 M Carson (Royal Belfast) 79 73, R Campbell (Greenacres) 77 75, S Inglis (Killiney) 77 75, L Flaherty (Roganstown) 76 76, A King (Faithlegg) 74 78, N Gohm (Germany) 73 79.

Non Qualifiers

153 C Reilly (Royal Tara) 79 74, F Hoare (Roscommon) 79 74, B Caffrey (Ardee) 78 75, R Donnellan (Galway Bay ) 77 76, M O'Brien (Elm Park) 75 78;

154 L Dutartre (France) 79 75, B Nolan (Woodbrook) 75 79, L McKeen (Co Louth) 75 79, S Novotny (Germany) 74 80, M Ball (Rathmore) 72 82;

155 B Hanratty (Donabate) 81 74, C Quinn (Castle) 81 74, L Winter (Germany) 80 75, R Link (Germany) 78 77, D Behan (Naas) 77 78, A Papaziani (France) 77 78, R Fives (Faithlegg) 72 83;

156 C Keenan (Balmoral) 81 75, P Gogarty (Laytown & Bettystown) 80 76, D Mulligan (Laytown & Bettystown) 79 77, L Kelly (Belvoir Park) 78 78, R Govan (The Island) 78 78, R McHugh (Baltinglass) 77 79, A Darrah (Royal Portrush) 76 80, J Cunningham (Carton House) 76 80, J McMaster (Holywood) 75 81;

157 C McFadden (Headfort) 81 76, S Sex (Portmarnock) 79 78, R Davidson (Knock) 77 80, C Parke (Knock) 75 82;

158 H O'Connell (Royal Dublin) 83 75, A Foley (Edmondstown) 81 77, A Luddy (Mitchelstown) 81 77, C Rice (Doneraile) 81 77, M Whelan (Ennis) 80 78, L Murdoch (Scotland) 80 78, R O'Shea (Elm Park) 80 78, J Mitten (Westmanstown) 77 81;

159 T Dodds (Rathmore) 84 75, J Kelly (Bray) 83 76, F Farrell (Carrick-on-Shannon) 79 80, L Mitchell (Portmarnock) 78 81, H Ardle (Warrenpoint) 77 82;

160 M Holohan (Seapoint) 85 75, T Jago Byrne (Palmerstown House Estate) 82 78, D Cronin (Co Sligo) 82 78, C Collins (Bermuda) 82 78, N McGowan (Woodbrook) 78 82, M Burns (Ardglass) 77 83, D Finn (Loughrea) 77 83;

161 C Sullivan (Forrest Little) 85 76, C Rowe (Tandragee) 84 77, J McArthur (Royal Portrush) 84 77, C O'Sullivan (Killiney) 81 80, J McNulty (Headfort) 80 81, K Connaughton (Roscommon) 78 83, S Spicer (Dromoland) 77 84, C Ward (Carton House) 76 85;

162 M Fitzgibbon (Portmarnock) 81 81, E Magill (East Clare) 80 82;

163 E Rowe (Lisburn) 85 78, A Fraser (Dun Laoghaire) 81 82, S Deasy (Lee Valley) 77 86;

164 A Moran (Castle) 88 76, C Flavin (Youghal) 85 79, O Reilly (Newlands) 85 79, P Curran (Edmondstown) 84 80, D McDonogh (Oughterard) 84 80, T Morrison (Carrickfergus) 84 80, J Adler (Nenagh) 82 82;

165 L Kilfeather (Galway) 80 85;

166 S Varian (Dun Laoghaire) 85 81;

167 C Feeney (Enniscrone) 84 83;

168 J Higgins (Donabate) 88 80, L Giblin (Carton House) 88 80, L Freeman (Ballaghaderreen) 87 81, D Sullivan (Forrest little) 86 82, B Bracken (Portmarnock) 83 85;

169 T Bischoff (Germany) 89 80, R O'Keeffe (Monkstown) 82 87, J O'Sullivan (Malone) 81 88;

170 A Kelly (Castle Barna) 86 84;

171 E O'Sullivan (The Heritage) 81 90;

172 R Murray (Roganstown) 89 83, N McCormack (Palmerstown House Estate) 87 85
NR 77 I Winn (Ballyneety);

RTD 78 C Sheridan (Craddockstown), RTD 82 S Calvert (Ballyneety), RTD 85 M McKeown (Dun Laoghaire), RTD A Curran (Craddockstown), C Diggin (Omagh), A Valery (France).