Ireland's hopes of victory in the inaugural LG Classic International Championship in Tunisia took a dive yesterday as the Irish team slipped down the leaderboard during the second day's play.

Ireland was joint sixth of the 18 teams after the first round on Wednesday but go into the final 18 holes today in eighth place on 294, 12 strokes behind surprise pacesetter Italy. Wexford professional Damian McGrane was best of the Irish trio with a one-over-par 73.

Irish PGA champion Neil Manchip had his second 75 of the tournament. John Kelly (The Ward) bounced back from his first round 80 to hand in a 74 yesterday giving Ireland a two-card total of 147 for the second time.