Ireland's Leona Maguire storms into contention at Women's Irish Open at Dromoland

IRELAND'S Solheim Cup star Leona Maguire stormed into contention on day three of the KPMG Women's Irish Open at Dromoland Castle after scorching her way around in 65 strokes.

Maguire sits just two shots behind new leader Anne Van Dam, of the Netherlands, after firing her best round of the day to move to -9 to thrill the large galleries who flocked to the pristine Co Clare venue.

Home favourite Maguire, who bagged four birdies and an eagle in the last seven holes, is in a share of eighth place and is one of six players sitting just two shots off the lead ahead of Sunday's final 18 holes.

In a packed leaderboard, six players are tied for second place on 10-under-par with one round left.

Following her round, world number16 Maguire told the Ladies European Tour website: “I didn’t get off to the best start again today, but a good par save on eight and a birdie on nine gave me some good momentum heading into the back nine and that chip in on 12 was the first bit of luck I’ve gotten all week.

“That changed everything and then I had some nice birdies coming in and that eagle on 16 coming in was a bit of a bonus. The goal today was to go out and try and shoot as low as possible, especially on the back nine and I wanted to give the crowd something to cheer about.

“It’s been fantastic. There’s been so many people out to watch and you just want to give them something to cheer about you’re trying to make as many birdies as you possibly can and hopefully, we can do more of the same tomorrow and there’ll be even more people out. Irish people are the best fans in the world, and they’ve come out in droves this week.”

KPMG Women's Irish Open:

-11 A van Dam (Neth); 

-10 J Karlsson (Swe), A Dimmock (Eng), N Broch Estrup (Den), U Wikstrom (Fin), C Alonso (Spa), M Folke (Swe) ; 

-9 L Maguire (Ire), S Schober (Aut), F Johnson (Eng), C Wolf (Aut), K Spilkova (Cze), S Soenderby (Den)