Damian McGrane made the notoriously tough road towards a place in the European Tour final qualifying school significantly easier with a second-round 66 for eight-under-par 138 in second-stage qualifying at Pals in Spain yesterday.

The 29-year-old club professional at Wexford golf club grabbed five birdies in his opening nine holes to share the midway lead with Englishmen Philip Golding and Simon Hurley at the venue, one of three staging stage-two tournaments.

The top 30 players from each course progress to the final qualifying at Sotogrande and San Roque on November 17th to 22nd.

McGrane, who was on the Britain and Ireland PGA Cup team which took on the US earlier this season, got off to a dream start with birdies at the 10th, 11th, 12th, 14th and 16th. He then showed his powers of recovery at the 17th and second holes where on each occasion he drove into trees only to avoid dropped shots with superb wedge approaches.

A number of other Irishmen are doing well. Also at Pals, Ballybunion's Sean Quinlivan fired a second-round 69 for sixunder-par 140 to be in tied ninth place at the midway stage while former Walker Cup player Paddy Gribben had a 68 for five-underpar 141 to be in tied 11th. Damian Mooney's second round 70 left him in tied 20th on 143 and former tour player Raymond Burns added a 70 for 144 to be in tied 31st. Jim Carvill is the leading Irish player at Peralada. He shot a second-round 67 for 139 which left him in 12th position while Francis Howley, Richard Coughlan and Peter Lawrie were all on the 143 mark in tied-35th position.

Former amateur international Eamonn Brady had a secondround 72 to be in tied-35th position at Emporada.

The 54-hole cut takes place after today's third round. Any player within eight shots of the final qualifying place at that course advances to tomorrow's final round.