James Sugrue and Ronan Mullarney in the groove in Portmarnock

Charlie Mulqueen Mallow’s James Sugrue and Ronan Mullarney from Galway produced outstanding performances at Portmarnock yesterday to keep Irish interest very much alive into this morning’s third round of the British Amateur Championship.

Mallow’s James Sugrue and Ronan Mullarney from Galway produced outstanding performances at Portmarnock yesterday to keep Irish interest very much alive into this morning’s third round of the British Amateur Championship.

While Mullarney had to come through a preliminary round against American Mason Anderson before accounting for England’s Jake Bolton in the afternoon, Sugrue pulled off one of the biggest results of the day when proving too strong for the highly rated two-times European Palmer Cup player, English international and fellow Walker Cup panellist, Harry Hall.