Five Irish golfers are one step away from landing a European Tour card for next year having survived the penultimate stage of qualifying in Spain.

The gruelling six-round test of final qualifying now awaits Niall Kearney, David Higgins, Simon Thornton, Gareth Shaw and Chris Devlin at the PGA Catalunya Resort later this month.

They were five of 73 players to qualify from four courses across Spain.

Both Peter O’Keeffe and Tim Rice missed out at El Valle, their only consolation being a place on the final qualifying reserve list. Douglas O’Keeffe was pipped for last berth in a play-off .