Michael McGeady makes it through to European Tour final qualifying stage

Michael McGeady proved the only successful Irish entrant to make it through the second stage of European Tour qualifying in Spain on Monday.

The North West golfer carded a two-under-70 on the tough links at El Saler in Valencia to finish the four rounds on three under. That left the 26-year-old in a tie of 12th position, with the top 17 going on to next week’s final qualifying event at PGA Catalunya.

McGeady recovered from a terrible start after making bogeys on eack of the first two holes. He birdied the par-five third, but another bogey at the par-five fifth pushed jim back out to one over and with work to do.

Back-to-back birdies on the seventh and eighth got him back to one under and further gains were made on the two par-fives on the back nine as he safely secured his passage.

Royal Dublin's Niall Kearney missed his chance at Lumine Beach after being well placed going into the final round.

Birdies on the fourth and fifth holes got Kearney to 10 under but he dropped three shots and failed to make any gains over the next 13 holes to finish in a tie for 21st position on seven under.

David Higgins, Mark Murphy and Brendan McCarroll also missed out at Lumine Beach, while Ruaidhri McGee and Gareth Shaw failed in their bids to progress at Panoramica and Niall Turner didn't make it at Las Colinas.

McGeady will join Peter Lawrie, Kevin Phelan, Simon Thornton and Gareth Maybin in the final qualifying stage at PGA Catalunya, where the gruelling first of six rounds get underway on Saturday.