Royal Dublin’s Hugh Foley put on a ball-striking clinic to open up a seven-shot lead before two closing bogeys for a five-under 66 left him five clear of Castleknock’s Paul Coughlan heading into the final round of the West of Ireland Championship at County Sligo.

The 2020 Irish Close champion went into the third round just one stroke behind Coughlan on six-under-par but quickly moved to the head off affairs at Rosses Point as he birdied the third, fourth, fifth and sixth, then got up and down for pars at the eighth and ninth to turn in 32.

He was three ahead of Coughlan on 10-under before he brushed in a 10 footer at the 10th, then hit his approach to six inches at the 11th to extend his lead to five strokes.

He moved six ahead when he holed a 40 footer from the fringe at the 15th to go seven-under for the round but while he needed to play his last three holes in two-under to break Ronan Mullarney’s course record 62, he failed to get up and down from short of the green at the 17th, then pulled his tee shot at the 18th and again failed to get up and down after laying up with his second.

At 11-under par, he leads by five shots from Coughlan, who chiseled out a one-over 72 in a two-club wind as light rain began to fall late in the round.

County Sligo’s TJ Ford made five birdies, two bogeys and a triple-bogey seven at the seventh in a 71 to sit alone in third on four-under, seven adrift, with Colm Campbell nine behind on two-under after a 74.

Galway’s Joe Lyons moved up one spot to ninth on level par after a 71 that featured a hole-in-one at the fourth.

West of Ireland Championship, Co Sligo GC (Par 71)

After 54 holes

Detailed scores

202 H Foley (Royal Dublin) 69 67 66

207 P Coughlan (Castleknock) 67 68 72

209 T Ford (Co Sligo) 72 66 71

211 C Campbell (Warrenpoint) 65 72 74

212 J McDonnell (Forrest Little) 71 71 70; M McClean (Malone) 70 72 70; R Knightly (Royal Dublin) 72 69 71; D Kitt (Athenry) 69 70 73

214 J Lyons (Galway) 71 71 72; R Cannon (Balbriggan) 71 70 73; L Nolan (Galway) 70 68 76

215 T Higgins (Roscommon) 78 70 67; R Abernethy (Dun Laoghaire) 75 68 72

217 S Dowling (The Island) 69 75 73

218 J Hewitt (Tandragee) 72 74 72; K Egan (Carton House) 73 72 73

219 A Edwards-Hill (Chelmsford) 71 72 76; I Lynch (Rosslare) 73 73 73

220 A Mulholland (Castlerock) 71 76 73; R Griffin (Ballybofey & Stranorlar) 71 76 73; A Hickey (Galway Bay) 79 67 74; A Hill (Athenry) 78 69 73

221 S Walker (Roscommon) 77 72 72; C Rafferty (Dundalk) 75 72 74; S Ryan (Royal Dublin) 74 76 71; C Hickey (Dooks) 72 71 78; A Brady (Co Sligo) 71 70 80; B Anderson (Co Sligo) 73 76 72

222 E McCormack (Galway Bay) 75 73 74; J Whelan (Grange) 71 75 76

223 M Shiel (Galway Bay) 72 74 77; T Dowdall (Woodbrook) 73 72 78; E Griffin (Waterford) 77 69 77

224 R McKeever (Castle) 75 75 74

225 R O'Connor (Co Sligo) 73 77 75

226 C Hall (Adare Manor) 77 72 77; G Lappin (Belvoir Park) 73 75 78

227 E Sullivan (Carton House) 73 72 82

228 J Fox (Portmarnock) 79 71 78; D Brady (Co Sligo) 75 71 82

229 L Cunningham (Galway Bay) 76 74 79; E O'Donnell (Tralee) 77 73 79

231 S McDermott (Slieve Russell) 72 76 83