EILEEN ROSE POWER carries Irish hopes into the third round of the British Open Amateur championship at Cruden Bay in the north of Scotland this morning.

Two excellent wins took the 30-year-old Munster champion from Kilkenny into the last 16 of the championship and boosted her hopes of securing a place in the Great Britain and Ireland side to tackle the Continent of Europe in Sweden next month.

The highly experienced campaigner breezed past Cheshire's Janet Hickmott by 4 and 3, but then had to pull out all the stops to overcome Netherlands opponent Nienke Nijenhuis by 2 and 1 in the afternoon.

In that game, Power was three over par which in the conditions was fine golf. She was one up at the turn and held on for an important success, and this morning meets Welsh champion Eleanor Pilgrim for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Rossmore's Michelle McGreevy overcame Australian Kate Macintosh in the first round but then found local competitor Sheena Wood, playing in her first British championship, just too hot to handle in the afternoon.

Earlier Barbara Hackett from Castletroy bit the dust, beaten out in the country by Scotland's Claire Hargan, and Elaine Dowdall, the 19-year-old from Wexford, discovered Curtis Cup player Elaine Ratcliffe was too strong and went down by 5 and 4.

Dundalk's Yvonne Cassidy put up quite a fight, however, before losing on the home green to French visitor Ludivine Kreutz.