After a long day spent cooling his heels, Padraig Harrington wasted little time in taking the outright lead at the Irish PGA Championship when he finally took to the course this evening.

Joint leader overnight, the defending champion had to wait until 5.10pm to start his second round as the knock-on effect of yesterday's lengthy rain delays continued to cause headaches for the organisers.

By that stage the leaderboard had ebbed and flowed at the daunting European Club layout, with Eoin O'Connor briefly enjoying sole ownership of first place before falling away, but Harrrington remained in a share of the lead when he teed off.

A double bogey at the 11th, his second, was not the ideal start but birdies at the 13th, 15th and 16th moved the Dubliner to three-over at the turn, one ahead of a chasing pack that includes the in-form Philip Walton.

Harrington extended his advantage to three with a further two birdies on the second and third while the damage of a dropped shot on the fourth was offset with yet another birdie at the next.

Determined to finish tonight, Harrington played his final few holes in near, if not total, darkness (it was well after 10pm before his group holed out on the last) but still managed to sign for a best-of-the-day 68 and maintain his three-stroke lead.