Not that you'd mark him down as a gambler, on first appearance at any rate, but when Gary Murphy saw himself priced at 80 to 1 to win the buzzgolf.com North West of Ireland, he thought: "I'll have a piece of that!"

Yesterday, as the dual badge event reached its midway stage, it seemed like inspired thinking. Murphy, who is seeking to retain his tour card for next season, shot a second-round 66 (which equalled the day-old course record) for a 36-hole total of eight-under-par 136. It propelled him into a share of the lead with England's Andrew Beale and Welshman Garry Houston.

For the rest of the Irish, however, it wasn't such a productive day. Des Smyth, just one of the pace overnight, slipped back with a 73 for four-under-par 140, which admittedly left him still in contention, but, sadly, not one of the other Irish players managed to survive. Agonisingly, three of them - Peter Lawrie, David Higgins and Paddy Gribben - all missed out by one stroke, when the cut fell on level par 144.

Murphy had no worries about surviving the cut, which was a pleasant surprise given his experiences in the two previous European Tour events held in Ireland this season - at the Murphy's Irish Open in Ballybunion he missed out by a shot, and in the Smurfit European Open at the K Club he also failed by one shot after a nightmare finish that included a four-putt at the 16th and a three-putt at the last.

Here, however, a late night - he stayed up to watch Big Brother - didn't affect him as he set about his task straight away, with a birdie at the first. But it was on the back nine, when he produced five birdies and not a single blemish, that he made hay.

After recording birdies at the 11th and 13th, he turned on the style from the 15th where he holed an 18-footer for birdie, sank a nine-footer for birdie at the 16th and, then, on the final hole, he watched the eagle chip hit the flag and leave him with a tap-in birdie to close.

Murphy's co-leaders at the halfway mark are also chasing first ever European Tour titles. Indeed Beale seemed almost as surprised as anyone to find himself in the thick of the action as the tournament gets to the business stage. "I've had some neck trouble and have a poor category which has limited my outings so far this season. I haven't had a chance to get any continuity," he claimed.

Yesterday, like Houston, he added a second round 69 to an opening 67 to show that some continuity has finally arrived.

Meanwhile, Smyth's failure, for the second day running, to birdie any of the par fives proved costly. Indeed, Smyth compounded matters by bogeying two of them - the 13th and the sixth, where he three-putted - but ground out a score that enabled him to remain in the hunt, just four shots adrift.