THE WAILING wall that doubles as the scoreboard at the East of Ireland Amateur Open told no lies and the brutal truth hit hard.
Just six players managed to conquer the magnificently prepared County Louth links with sub-par figures for the opening 36 holes, and that only seven managed to do so yesterday was testimony to just how much of a challenge a fast-running links presents.
With a steady northeast breeze drying the already parched course further, the Castle's Dara Lernihan added an early-morning one-under-par 71 to his opening 68 to lead on five-under-par 139.
That gave him a two-stroke lead over Knock's Nicky Grant, who equalled the best score of the day with a 68, and Walker Cup player Jonny Caldwell, with a 72, going into today's 36-hole shoot-out.
But given the difficulty of the course, anyone within 10 shots of the lead l has an outside chance.
At least, that's what reigning Irish Close and West of Ireland champion Shane Lowry is hoping after a 77 left him just two strokes inside the cut on five-over-par 149.
Westport's Cathal O'Malley, back from the University of Alabama, "poked it round" in 71 for the second day on the trot to trail Lernihan by three shots on two under par, alongside overnight leader Eoin Arthurs of Forrest Little, who tangled too often with Baltray's fearsome fairway bunkers as he followed his Saturday 66 with a salutary 76.
Yet while Grant did not feel he had played well at all for his 68, the highlight of which was a 40-footer for an eagle three at his 12th hole, Darren Crowe was delighted to turn his game around and take sole possession of sixth place, just four strokes off the pace.
"That felt more like a 62 than a 68," said a delighted Crowe, who revealed that an emergency phone call to coach Michael Magee had straightened out his swing after an opening 75.
Coaching has certainly done no harm to 21-year-old Lernihan, who spent six weeks of the off-season practising at a David Leadbetter academy in Florida.
Tied for eighth in last month's Irish Amateur Open strokeplay championship at Royal Dublin, his goal is to win a championship and earn his first senior international cap this season.
He knows how to win, too, having successfully defended the Leinster Youths title at The European Club last year. After carding his second successive sub-par round in true links conditions, he is looking forward to the 36-hole challenge ahead of him today.
Out in the fifth group of the day off the first tee, he dropped a shot at the par-five second when he bunkered his tee-shot, but he bounced back in spectacular fashion by going eagle-birdie-birdie for the next three holes.
At the 544-yard third, he hit a huge drive downwind and then rifled an eight-iron to just four feet to set up an eagle. A flicked sandwedge finished stone dead at the fourth, before he fired another eight-iron to 10 feet at the 173-yard fifth.
Given the firm fairways, he was not too disappointed to visit two more fairway bunkers on the way home, dropping shots at the eighth and 13th.
"Things are going well so far," Lernihan said. "I'm driving it well and holing putts. The greens are so good that you just have to start them on line and they'll drop."
