Kilkenny's Gary Murphy produced the round of the day at Peralada on the Costa Brava yesterday, a superb six-under-par 66 catapulting him back into contention after the third round of stage two of the PGA European Tour Qualifying School.

Murphy's flawless round, which included birdies at the last three holes, saw him move from outside the top 30 into a share of seventh place on eight-under-par 208.

Further down the leaderboard, Peter Lawrie fell back with a third round 72 but is in a tie for 22nd place on five-under-par 211. There is work to be done for the two other Irish challengers at Peralada. John Dwyer carded a 72 for a share of 44th place on 215 and James Loughnane is in 51st on 216 despite a 69.

At Emporda, however, the news was not good for the two-strong Irish contingent of former Walker Cup player Richard Coughlan and Newry's Jim Carvill. Coughlan's uninspired one-over-par 72 saw him fall back to three-over par 216 and just inside the cut-off point while Carvill's third round 73 for 220 saw him miss the cut by three shots.