Dunlea and McDermott lead the way

Graeme Dunlea (Adare Manor Resort) and Michael McDermott (Pure Golf Leopardstown) are locked together at the top of the leader board after a rain interrupted day two of the Irish PGA Championship in Adare Manor.

The duo carded two under par rounds of 67 to lead the event which finally succumbed to the elements at 6.30pm with 48 players still to finish round two.

Heavy overnight rain caused a two-hour delay to the start of play on Friday morning and a further half hour delay midway through the afternoon has left tournament officials playing catch-up.

Dunlea and McDermott made the most of the better conditions in the morning and on four under par, they have a two shot lead over Peter Jones (Coollatin), defending champion Michael McGeady and Brendan McGovern (Headfort), who has still nine holes of round two left to play.

McDermott, who won the pre-tournament pro-am, battled through his front nine, going to the turn in level par before picking up the pace over his closing holes.

“It was a bit of struggle out there. I just sort of rode it out and picked up a couple of birdies at the end,” said the 34-year-old.

Dunlea failed to take full advantage of a decent ball-striking round but was content with his form heading into the weekend.

“I would have taken two under at the start of the day. It was a solid round of golf and I'm in a decent position, another two of those and we will see where that leaves me,” he said.

Defending champion, Michael McGeady, moved into contention with a three under par 66.

“It gets me back into the mix,” said McGeady,

“It's really all about trying to find your feet on this course. I played solid today and have been playing solid lately but I putted a bit better. The greens were better this morning than yesterday afternoon and I felt a bit more comfortable on them.”

The round of the day came from 29-year-old Daniel Beattie (Deerpark Hotel), who signed for a brilliant six under par 63 in the afternoon.

“Attitude was the big difference today. I lost it yesterday after I tripled the second and it was tough to get back from that,” said the Whitehead native who is four back on even par.

“I just thought to myself that I was going to come up today and get on with it. I knew it would be tricky today but I hit a lot of good tee shots.”

Overnight leader, Robert Giles (Greenore GC), carded a level par 71 and is three shots back of the leaders.

Those players who have yet to finish round two will return to the course on Saturday morning at 8.30pm to finish their rounds before the draw for round three.