Farrell and Hearn tied for the lead in Mullingar - Irish Golfer

Joint-leader Evan Farrell says it would be incredible to win the Mullingar Scratch Trophy but he is not taking his lofty position for granted heading into the final 36 holes on Bank Holiday Monday.

The County Louth golfer is tied on top of the standings with Jack Hearn (Tramore) after he followed up his sensational opening round of 67 with an afternoon 70 to take -7 into the clubhouse towards the end of day one.

Hearn, who was a semi-finalist in the South of Ireland last weekend, then joined him in the overnight lead after his second round 68.

And with Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry all among the former winners of this championship, and Bridgestone Order of Merit point on offer, Farrell is determined to keep up the momentum.

“Look the oldest cliché, take it one shot at a time and then see how you get on but yeah, it’s a long way to go so we’ll see how it goes,” said Farrell.

“It would be brilliant (to win). Just look at all  great names on trophy so would be incredible but as I said, it’s a long way to go, so we’ll see how we go.”

Farrell was the leader after Round 1 where his eagle on 14 helped to separate him from the rest of the field and he went on to card a -5 total.

David Howard (Fota Island) shot 70 in the morning but followed that up with 68 to finish the day in third ahead of Luke O’Neill (Connemara), while Hearn caught up.

On the back of some impressive golf in Lahinch last weekend, he shot 69 in the morning and despite a missed eagle putt on the last he still moved joint-top.

“I hit it nicely in the South and took the form into this week. But there is a lot more than to just hit nicely to win any of these tournaments. So you just got to keep the foot down,” said Hearn.

“The first round I hit it very well and had a few putts as well that didn’t drop but still managed to squeeze out a -3 round. This afternoon. It was a bit tougher just a second leg of 36 holes. Started off in good form in the front nine and a little bit of a wobble from like 11 to 13.

“I then played the last three in -2 which kind of just got me up a few more places.”