His round was a full ten shots worse than his opening effort of 66 which had taken him to the top of the leaderboard.

It's become a frustratingly familiar story for McGeady, who plays at the North West club in Donegal, who has shot plenty of low rounds this year but been unable to follow them up.

He switched coaches to Brendan McDaid following the example of fellow Challenge Tour pro Colm Moriarty who has made great strides forward of late.

Still, McGeady's four over round left him trailing only by four shots in ninth place, still well placed to complete a good pay day over the weekend.

Meanwhile, in the elite Rolex Trophy in Switzerland, the other Challenge Tour event taking place at the moment, Moriarty had a second round 68 to keep him within two of the leader Ross Magowan yesterday.

Moriarty, who had opened with a three under 69, made four birdies yesterday and has yet to drop a shot over the two rounds.

Belfast's Michael Hoey is also in action in Switzerland and lies nine shots off the lead on level par for the tournament.

Northern Ireland's Jimmy Heggarty trails Englishman Carl Mason by one shot after the opening day of the Midas English Open at the St Mellion International Hotel, Golf and Country Club.

South Africa's John Bland, Australia's Stewart Ginn, Scotland's Bill Longmuir, Trinidad's Alan Mew, England's Nick Job, David J Russell and Martin Poxon also trail by a shot.

They all shot two under par rounds of 70 over the testing Nicklaus Course on day one of the European Seniors Tour event.

Heggarty said: "As I said after the two pro-ams, when I didn't play that well, my goal was to beat the course, and I did that.

" So I'm happy with that. The course is playing a little more softly, and a bit more friendly, so you can hit into position and know it's going to stay there.

"Last year, it was hard and bouncing all over the place. I hit a lot of shots today into the right position.

" My game is back to where it should be. One shot back is nothing on this course, so I'm looking forward to the weekend."