Ireland kept their nerve at difficult moments yesterday to move impressively into the top matchplay flight of the 21st European Boys Championship over the Noord-Nederlandse course in The Netherlands.

There were certainly moments of anxiety for captain John Moloughney as the team slipped slightly from their position of third on day one. Nevertheless, they made it in fifth place with plenty to spare, recording a 36-hole total of 740.

That was 11 strokes behind top qualifiers England, but 16 in front of Switzerland who got through in last place.

For the second consecutive day, Connemara's Kenneth Fahey performed well, returning a 72 with the highlights being birdie threes on the fifth and 10th holes. Banbridge's Conor Doran was also steady in handing in a 72.

For today's match against Finland the captain has paired Derek McNamara and Fahey in the first foursomes and Doran and Martin McTernan in the second. For the singles he sends out Philip McLoughlin first and leaves McTernan on the sidelines.