Tullamore's Stuart Grehan birdied two of his last three holes for a second round 69 and the biggest halfway lead in the CityNorth Hotel-sponsored East of Ireland Amateur Open for eight years. The 22-year old Maynooth University star led by a stroke overnight at County Louth thanks to a superb 67 on Saturday.

But he was equally impressive yesterday as he mixed six birdies with three bogeys to head the qualifiers by six strokes on eight under par from reigning Irish amateur close champion John-Ross Galbraith.

Winner of the Close at nearby Seapoint last year, Whitehead player Galbraith posted a second successive 71 to sit alone in second place on two under par with Castle's Alex Gleeson the only other player in red figures, a shot further back on one-under par after rounds of 72 and 71.

Belvoir Park's Gareth Lappin (72), Warrenpoint's Jamie Fletcher (73), Galway Bay's Eddie McCormack (74) and Knock's Colin Fairweather (76) were tied for fourth on level par. But the star of the show was Grehan, whose six-shot lead is the biggest since eventual champion Richard Kilpatrick led by six strokes from Shane Lowry and Pat Murray in 2007.

A quarter-finalist in the Irish Close last year, Grehan turned in level par 37 as he birdied the par-five second and sixth and the tricky eighth but bogeyed the fourth, the tough, par-three fifth and the testing ninth.

However, he was immaculate on the homeward nine, racing home in 32 thanks to birdies at the 10th, 16th and remodelled, par-five 18th.

The cut for the leading 51 players fell at eight over par 152 which meant a disappointing title defence for last year's winner Colm Campbell from Warrenpoint, who missed out.
CO LOUTH GC – SECOND ROUND SCORES
(Par 72; CSS 76)
136 – Stuart Grehan (Tullamore) 67 69
142 – John-Ross Galbraith (Whitehead) 71 71
143 – Alex Gleeson (Castle) 72 71
144 – Gareth Lappin (Belvoir Park) 72 72, Jamie Fletcher (Warrenpoint) 71 73, Eddie McCormack (Galway Bay) 70 74, Colin Fairweather (Knock) 68 76
145 – Stuart Bleakley (Shandon Park) 73 72, Alan Lowry (Esker Hills) 69 76
146 – Eoin Arthurs (Forrest Little.) 76 70, Aaron Grant (Dundalk) 75 71, Kyle McCarron (North West) 73 73, Mark Morrissey (Mount Wolseley) 73 73, Greg Mungovan (Headfort) 72 74, Jeff Hopkins (The Royal Dublin) 71 75, Shaun Carter (The Royal Dublin) 70 76, Mark Shanahan (Castlemartyr) 70 76, Tiarnan McLarnon (Massereene) 69 77
147 – Joe Lyons (Galway) 76 71, Pat Murray (Limerick) 74 73, Jamie Sutherland (Galgorm Castle) 73 74, Conor O'Rourke (Naas) 72 75, Liam Hutchinson (The Royal Dublin) 70 77
148 – Jack Pierse (Portmarnock) 78 70, Caolan Rafferty (Dundalk) 77 71, Gavin Smyth (Clonmel) 73 75, Geoff Lenehan (Portmarnock) 73 75, Ian Lynch (Rosslare) 70 78
149 – Robert Cannon (Balbriggan) 75 74, Matthew McClean (Balmoral) 73 76, John Hickey (Cork) 73 76, Richard Bridges (Stackstown) 72 77, Gerard Dunne (Co. Louth) 71 78, Sean Flanagan (Co. Sligo) 69 80
150 – Seán Ryan (The Royal Dublin) 78 72, Theo Coffey (Slieve Russell) 77 73, Colm Crowley (Woodbrook) 77 73, Ryan Symington (Lisburn) 74 76, Niall Gorey (Palmerstown Stud) 74 76, Stephen Brady (Galway) 74 76, Marc Boucher (Carton House) 73 77, Paul McCarthy (Mallow) 73 77, Jonathan Yates (Naas) 72 78
151 – Stephen Coulter (Warrenpoint) 78 73, Michael Reid (Galgorm Castle) 78 73, Stephen Watts (Cairndhu) 76 75, David Reddan (Nenagh) 74 77, Stephen Healy (Carton House) 73 78, Alan Dowling (Hermitage) 70 81
152 – Jordan Hood (Galgorm Castle) 79 73, Gary Collins (Rosslare) 78 74 Non-qualifiers
152 – Eugene Smith (Ardee) 77 75, Barry Daly (Edmondstown) 77 75, Padhraic O'Brien (Co. Louth) 76 76, Paul Reavey (Warrenpoint) 76 76, James Fox (Portmarnock) 75 77 , Gary O'Flaherty (Cork) 75 77 , Daryl Callister (Mount Murray) 75 77, Ted Collins (Dun Laoghaire) 74 78, John Greene (Portmarnock) 74 78, Ben Best (Rathmore) 74 78, Stephen Walsh (Portmarnock) 74 78
153 – Conor Purcell (Portmarnock) 78 75, Ryan Gribben (Warrenpoint) 77 76, Keith Egan (Carton House) 77 76, Shaun O'Connor (Carton House) 77 76, Steffan O'Hara (Co. Sligo) 75 78, Michael Sinclair (Knock) 75 78, John McGinn (Laytown & Bettystown) 73 80, Connor Doran (Banbridge) 72 81, Gareth Bohill (Co. Louth) 72 81 154 – Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint) 80 74, Gary McDermott (Carton House) 78 76, Paul Coughlan (Moate) 78 76, William Hanna (Kilkeel) 77 77, Kelan McDonagh (The Royal Dublin) 77 77, Richard Knightly (The Royal Dublin) 76 78, Kevin Le Blanc (The Island) 76 78, Seamus Cullen (Slieve Russell) 76 78, Robin Dawson (Faithlegg) 75 79, Thomas Mulligan (Co. Louth) 75 79, Sean Doyle (Athlone) 74 80, Daniel Holland (Castle) 73 81, Angus Carrick (Douglas Park) 73 81, Karl Purcell (Dun Laoghaire) 73 81
155 – Neil McKinstry (Cairndhu) 77 78, Sean Walsh (Carton House) 77 78, Cian Dullaghan (Greenore) 76 79, Mark Mullen (Rosslare) 74 81
156 – Michael Buggy (Castlecomer) 79 77, Daniel Coyle (Portmarnock) 76 80, Evan Farrell (Ardee) 76 80, Daniel Brennan (Shannon) 76 80
157 – Herve Blanco (FRANCE) 81 76, Roy Connolly (Palmerstown Stud) 81 76, Declan Reidy (Co. Sligo) 79 78, Mark O'Rourke (Royal Tara) 79 78, Robert Neville (The Links Portmarnock) 79 78, Dan Murphy (Portarlington) 78 79, Eanna Griffin (Waterford) 77 80, Liam Grehan (Mullingar) 77 80, Robbie Pierse (Grange) 76 81
158 – David Foy (Laytown & Bettystown) 83 75, Rory Williamson (Holywood) 81 77, Matthew Kane (Whitehead) 79 79, Mark Power (Kilkenny) 78 80, Nigel Beirth (Co. Louth) 76 82, Simon Bryan (Delgany) 75 83
159 – Shane Walsh (Killeen) 82 77, Chris Drumm (The Royal Dublin) 80 79, Jake Whelan (Newlands) 78 81, Owen Crooks (Bushfoot) 78 81, Niall Goulding (Portmarnock) 78 81, Thomas O'Connor (Athlone) 77 82, Thomas Hackett (USA) 77 82
160 – Paul Murphy (Rosslare) 85 75, Marc Nolan (Delgany) 80 80, Christopher O'Connor (Corrstown) 78 82, Ronan O'Reilly (Headfort) 74 86
161 – Keith Murphy (Charlesland) 82 79, Peter Kane (Ashbourne) 81 80, Alan Duffy (Royal Tara) 79 82, Finnian O'Doherty (Letterkenny) 79 82, Quentin Carew (Edenderry) 77 84
162 – Karl Murray (Delgany) 83 79, Sebastien Alsuguren (FRANCE) 82 80, Allan Kiernan (Forrest Little.) 81 81, Luke Robinson (Bundoran) 81 81, Ryan O'Doherty (Enniscrone) 80 82, Ruairi Kennelly (Portmarnock) 80 82, Gerard Lawlor (Craddockstown) 78 84, Cian Geraghty (Laytown & Bettystown) 78 84
163 – John McCarthy (Stackstown) 84 79, Paraic Connolly (Killeen Castle) 82 81, Michael Brett (Portmarnock) 80 83, Edward O'Keeffe (Corrstown) 79 84
164 – Shane Whooley (Muskerry) 80 84, Liam Ashby (Naas) 80 84
165 – Stephen Kinch (Hollystown) 81 84, Tony O'Leary (Wexford) 80 85
166 – James Monaghan (The Royal Dublin) 84 82, Shane Mc Dermott (Co. Cavan) 83 83, Conor Coyne (Youghal) 82 84
167 – Jack McDonnell (Forrest Little.) 82 85, Mark MacGrath (Limerick) 81 86
170 – Declan O'Neill (Carton House) 82 88
171 –Declan Kelly (Hermitage) 86 85
Withdrew Gary McGrane (The Royal Dublin) 75 WD, Timothy Jordan (Dungannon) 78 WD, John Conroy (Bray) 80 WD, Greg O'Mahony (Fota Island) 79 WD, Alan Fahy (Bray) 79 WD, Shane McGlynn (Carton House) 81 WD, Niall Foley (The Island) 81 WD, Jonathan Gourley (Shandon Park) 82 WD, Conor Ryan (Dun Laoghaire) 82 WD