The last shall be first and so it was at Royal Portrush last night as Chris Moriarty emerged from the gathering darkness to snatch the silver medal as leading qualifier in the Carlsberg North of Ireland Championship. The lanky lad from Clandeboye carded a three-under-par 69 from Dunluce for a total of 140 - one shot better than international Paddy Gribben whose name had sat on top of the leaderboard from lunchtime.

Gribben also had a 69 but was one shot worse on the Valley on Monday. "I'm having a great season," enthused Moriarty.

Moriarty, last man to finish, began his charge with an eagle at the long second hole where he fired a three iron to 12 feet and rolled home the putt. He then balanced bogeys at the fifth and ninth holes with a birdie two at the sixth and birdie three at the eighth before a steady homeward trip.

He covered the back nine with eight pars and a birdie three at the 16th where he slotted in a 15-feet putt.

Gribben had a blemish-free 69 which included three birdies, 15 pars and no dropped shots. He clipped a shot of regulation at the long ninth, 11th and 17th.

"I can never remember when I had no bogeys in a competitive round before. It must be a long, long time," commented Gribben.

Garth McGimpsey, a five-time winner of the tournament, opened with a sub-par 69 on the Valley but took 75 strokes (three over) on the big Dunluce course yesterday and admitted he had played "rubbish".

He finished on 146 along with international colleague Bryan Omelia who took some time away from the game after losing to Eddie Power in the Irish Close final at The Island.

Former champion in the North, Michael McGinley, had to draw on all his reserves to make the cut after a terrible opening 80 on the Valley. Yesterday he handed in a level par 72 from Dunluce to get into today's matchplay action on 152 - one shot inside the limit on which defending champion Michael Sinclair finished.