McIlroy leads going into Irish Open final round

Rory McIlroy's dream of lifting the Irish Open trophy in his home county remains very much alive after a third-round 69 gave him a one-shot cushion heading into the final day at Royal County Down.

Starting the day two back of Matteo Manassero, McIlroy carded an eagle, two birdies and two bogeys in blustery conditions to establish a narrow lead over the Italian.

Scottish Open champion Robert MacIntyre (69) and four-time DP World Tour winner Rasmus Hojgaard (71) are two of the players in a tie for third, three adrift of McIlroy.

Northern Ireland's Tom McKibbin carded a 70 to sit six back but Shane Lowry's challenge faded, the 2019 Open champion falling to two-over with a 74 having started the day with three straight birdies.

But after posting the joint-lowest score on Saturday, McIlroy has put himself in position to claim his first professional win on Northern Irish soil.

"It would be great," McIlroy said of the prospect of winning.

"I talked about it at the start of the week, after the year that I've had and the close misses. It wouldn't make up for all of it, but it would put a nice shine on 2024 for me."

Huge crowds descended on Royal County Down to watch McIlroy and the world number three gave his fans something to cheer about at the earliest possible opportunity by eagling the par-five first for the second day in a row.

But having followed that with three successive pars, he bogeyed the testing par-four fifth for the third time this week.

But after playing a superb shot into the short par-three, he drained a six-footer to move back to six under.

From there, McIlroy used his experience to keep the mistakes off his card and picked up an unlikely shot on the 13th, sinking a 32-foot putt after finding trouble off the tee.

On Thursday, the four-time major winner finished with a hat-trick of birdies but having parred 16 and 17, he finished his round in disappointing fashion with a bogey six at 18.

McIlroy will have Manassero for company in the final round after the Italian mixed three birdies and four bogeys in a 70.

The Italian, who ended an 11-year wait for a DP World Tour win earlier this year in South Africa, had three bogeys in a five-hole stretch on his front nine, and while he birdied the par-five 12th, he let another shot slip after finding the gorse with his drive on the 17th.